Proanthocyanin composition in new varieties from monastrell

In Alentejo, south of Portugal there is a traditional way of fermenting wines in clay vessels, known as “Vinhos de Talha”. Clay vessels were traditionally impermeabilized using pine pitch, creating a barrier between the fermenting must and the clay. Due to this unusual production technology that uses of clay vessels, instead of inox or wood vessels, “Vinhos de Talha” present unique characteristics increasingly appreciated by national and international consumers when compared with wine obtained by the said traditional methods of winemaking. Although the positive consumers feedback, there is little literature about the physical-chemical characteristics of these wines (Martins et al, 2018; Cabrita et al, 2018). This work aims to characterize the volatile composition of white wines produced in clay vessels with different coatings and to contribute to the knowledge and preservation of these wines that are a unique cultural heritage. Wine samples were produced during 2019 vintage from white grapes, using the traditional technology associated to these wines.

Vitis champinii cultivars Ramsey and Dog-ridge are main choices for rootstocks to adapt viticulture in semi-arid and arid regions thanks to their distinctive tolerance to drought and salinity. However, genetic studies on non-vinifera rootstocks have heavily relied on the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) reference genome, which difficulted the assessment of the genetic variation between rootstock species and grapevines. In the present study, this limitation is addressed by introducing a novo phased genome assembly and annotation of Vitis champinii. This new Vitis champinii genome was employed as reference for mapping RNA-seq reads from the same species under drought and salt stresses, and for comparison the same reads were also mapped to the Vitis vinifera PN40024.V4 reference genome. A significant increase in alignment rate was gained when mapping Vitis champinii RNA-seq reads to its own genome, compared to the Vitis vinifera PN40024.V4 reference genome, thus revealing the expression levels of genes specific to Vitis champinii. Moreover, differences in coding sequences were observed in ortholog genes between Vitis champinii and Vitis vinifera, which therefore challenges previous differential expression analyses performed between contrasting Vitis genotypes on the same gene from the Vitis vinifera genome. Genes with possible implications in drought and salt tolerance have been identified across the genome of Vitis champinii, and the same genomic data can potentially guide the discovery of candidate genes specific from Vitis champinii for other traits of interest, therefore becoming a valuable resource for rootstock breeding designs, specially towards increased drought and salinity due to climate change.

This study investigates how different pressing techniques impact on the sensory profile of Pinot Blanc wines sourced from different terroirs.

The main challenge of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) research is to isolate the factors that come with RDI, the direct effect of plant water status from the indirect ones like increased radiation and temperature changes on the cluster zone. This study aims to isolate the effects of vine water status from the effects of increased radiation on the phenolic composition of grapes subjected to RDI.
A three-year study on an RDI experiment where radiation was controlled was implemented in a commercial vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile. Four RDI treatments based on partial evapotranspiration (ET) irrigation were established. Irrigation treatments were 100% ET, 70% ET, 50-100% ET (50% ET before veraison and 100% ET afterward), and 35-100% ET (35% ET before veraison and 100% ET afterward).

In oenology, bio-protection consists in adding bacteria, yeasts or a mixture of microorganisms on grape must before fermentation in order to reduce the use of chemical compounds such as sulphites.