Whole bunch fermentation: adding complexity, or just making ‘green’ wine?

The honeydew moth Cryptoblabes gnidiella is the main problem for the wineries in the Northeast of the Brazil, because it attacks the bunch and reduces the quality of the grapes and the wines. In order to stretch out the bunch to facilitate the penetration of the insecticides, it was used gibberellic acid. Six treatments with different concentrations and different dates of application, and the control were compared.

The Union defence of the “appellation Costières de Nîmes” hired a reflection on the future of its territory production in the interests of preservation and enhancement.

The favorable effect of symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has been known and studied since the 60s. Nowadays, many companies took the chance to start promoting and selling commercial inoculants of AMF, in order to be used as biofertilizers and encourage sustainable biological agriculture. However, the positive effect of these commercial biofertilizers on plant growth is not always demonstrated, especially under field conditions. In this study, we used a commercial inoculum on newly planted grapevines of a local cultivar grafted on a common rootstock R110. We followed the physiological status of vines, growth and productivity and functional biodiversity of soil bacteria during the first and second years of 20 inoculated with commercial inoculum bases on Rhizophagus irregularis and Funeliformis mosseaeAMF at field planting time and 20 non-inoculated control plants. All the parameters measured showed a neutral to negative effect on plant growth and production. The inoculated plants always presented lower values of photosynthesis, growth and grape production, although in some cases the differences did not reach statistical significance. On the contrary, the inoculation supposed an increase of the bacterial functional diversity, although the differences were not statistically significant either. Several studies show that the effect of inoculation with AMF is context-dependent. The non-favorable effects are probably due to inoculation ineffectiveness under complex field conditions and/or that, under certain conditions, AMF presence may be a parasitic association. This puts into question the effectiveness of its application in the field. Therefore, it is recommended to only resort to this type of biofertilizer when the cultivation conditions require it (e.g., very low previous microbial diversity, foreseeable stress due to drought, salinity, or lack of nutrients) and not as a general fertilization practice.

The quality and color stability of red wines are directly related to content and distribution of phenolic compounds. However, the climate change produces the asynchrony between the dates of technological and maturity of grapes. The crop-forcing technique (CF) restores the coupling between phenolic and technological ripeness while limits vineyard yields. Blending of wines is frequently used to equilibriate composition of wines and to increase their stability, color and quality. The aim of the present work is to study the phenolic composition and color of wine blends made with FW (wines from vines subjected to CF) and CW (wines for vines under the usual cultivation practices).

To limit the acceleration of global warming we need to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (GHG), making our production processes more carbon-efficient and optimizing absorptions.