Neural networks and ft-ir spectroscopy for the discrimination of single varietal and blended wines. A preliminary study.

Growing concerns over the environmental and health risks posed by chemical pesticides have highlighted the need to reduce their use in the agri-food sector.

Traditional viticulture areas have experienced in the last decades an intensification of field practices, linked to an increased use of fertilisers and phytosanitary products, and to a more intensive mechanization and uniformization of the landscape. This change in management has sometimes led to higher rates of soil erosion andloss of soil structure, fertility decline, groundwater contamination, and to an increased pressure of pests and diseases. Additionally, intensification usually leads to a simplification of landscapes, of particular concern in prestigious wine grape regions where the economical revenue encourages the conversion of land use from natural habitats to high value wine grape production. To revert this trend, it is necessary that growers implement actions that promote biodiversity in their vineyards. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the implementation of cover crops, vegetational corridors, dry stone walls and vineyard biodiversity hotspots estimated through the study of arthropods. The work has been carried out in four vineyards in Rioja Alavesa belonging to Ostatu winery, where these infrastructures were implemented in 2020. The presence and diversity of arthropods was studied by capturing them at different times in the season and at different distances from the infrastructure using pit-fall traps in the soil and yellow, white and blue chromatic traps at the canopy level. This is a preliminary study in which all adult insects were sorted to the taxonomic level of order and Coleoptera were classified to morphospecies. The results obtained show that there is a relationship between the basic characteristics of the vineyard and the arthropods captured, with a positive effect, although also dependent on the vineyard, of the presence of infrastructure.

Over the past two years, the AWRI has received 69 wine samples suspected of being affected by mousy off-flavour. The character has been mostly observed in white wines.

ln the current work, phenolic and cellular maturation curves were used to assess the degree of adaptation of the cultivar Cabernet sauvignon to the sites under esamination. Five wine­-producing zones with different pedoclimatic characteristics and latitudes were considered (Marche, Toscana, Emilia, Friuli and Slovenia).

Berry texture and berry skin mechanical properties have high agronomic importance, related to quality and marketing requirements of wine, table and raisin grapes.