Insights into the stable isotope ratio variability of hybrid grape varieties

Grapevine downy mildew (GDM), caused by the obligate biotroph oomycete Plasmopara viticola, is one of the most destructive diseases in viticulture.

A critical aspect of wine quality is the overall expression of wine flavour, which is formed by the interplay of volatile aroma compounds, their precursors, and taste and matrix components.
Grapes directly contribute to wine only a small number of potent aroma compounds, and the unique
sensory attributes and perceived quality of a wine result from combining 100s of metabolites of grapes, yeast and bacteria, and oak wood.

Genetic variants known to produce single residue missense mutations have been associated with phenotypic traits of commercial interest in grapevine. This is the case of the K284N substitution in VviDXS1 associated with muscat aroma, or the R197L in VviAGL11 causing stenospermocarpic seedless grapes. The impact of such mutations on protein structure, stability, dynamics, interactions, or functional mechanism can be studied by computational methods, including our pyDock scoring, previously developed. For this, knowledge on the 3D structure of the protein and its complexes with other proteins and biomolecules is required, but such knowledge is not available for virtually none of the proteins and complexes in grapevine.

Under-vine (UV) management has traditionally consisted of synthetic herbicide use to limit competition between weeds and grapevines. With growing global interest towards non-synthetic chemical use, this study aimed to capture the effects of alternative UV management at two commercial Shiraz vineyards in South Australia, where the sole management variables were UV management since 2016. In adjacent treatment blocks, cultivation (CU) was compared to spontaneous vegetation (SV) in McLaren Vale (MV), and herbicide was compared to SV in Eden Valley (EV). Soil water infiltration rates were slower and grapevine stem water potential was lower in CU compared to SV in MV, with the latter having a plant community dominated by soursob (Oxalis pes-caprae) during winter; while in EV, there was little separation between the treatments. Yields were affected at both sites, with SV being higher in MV and HE being higher in EV. In MV, the only effect on grape must was a lower 13C:12C isotope ratio in CU, indicating greater grapevine water stress. In the grape must at EV, SV had higher total soluble solids, total phenolics, anthocyanins, and yeast available nitrogen; and lower pH and titratable acidity. Pruning weights were not affected by the treatments in MV, while they were higher in HE at EV. Assessments revealed that the differing soil types at the two sites were likely the main determinants of the opposing production outcomes associated with UV management. In the silty loam soil of MV, the higher yields in SV were likely due to more plant-available water, as a potential result of the continuous soil bio-pores formed by winter UV vegetation. Conversely, in the loamy sand soils of EV with a lower cation exchange capacity, the lower yields and pruning weights in SV suggest the UV vegetation competed significantly with the grapevines for available water and nutrients.

The introduction of ai-driven tools in digital content creation represents a significant shift in the landscape of marketing, particularly for industries reliant on rich visual storytelling such as the wine sector. The development of ai models like openai’s sora, runway’s gen-2 or google’s lumiere, which can generate realistic video content from textual descriptions, offers promising new avenues for enhancing brand narrative and consumer engagement. This research explores the potential of text-to-video (t2v) ai models to revolutionize wine marketing by creating dynamic, engaging content that captures the essence of vineyards and their products without the need for traditional video production processes.