New acacia gums fractions: how their features affect the foamability of sparkling base wines?

Methoxypyrazines (MPs) are readily extracted from grape berry and rachis during fermentation and can impart “green” and “herbaceous” sensory attributes to wine. Irrespective of whether MPs, including 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IBMP), 3-isopropyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IPMP), and 3-sec-butyl-2-methoxypyrazine (SBMP), are extracted from berry or other vine material, techniques for remediation of wine with overpowering sensory characters attributable to MPs suffer from poor specificity or produce undesirable sensory outcomes, meaning that alternative control approaches are needed.

Despite their trace concentrations, volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) are an important category of flavour-active compounds that significantly contribute to desirable or undesirable aromas of many foods and beverages. In wines, VSCs in the form of polyfunctional thiols, notably 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3-SH), 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3-SHA), and 4-sulfanyl-4-methyl-pentan-2-one (4-MSP), possess extremely low olfactory thresholds (≈ ng/L) and pleasant “tropical aroma” notes. They have received much attention with respect to their sensory contributions, quantitative occurrences, biogenesis, and thiol management through viticulture and winemaking. However, the fate of these potent volatiles are still not fully understood.

Aim: The study aims to show how different pedo-climatic conditions (past, present, and future) in three Italian sites at different latitudes (from center to southern), affect the adaptation of two red grapevine cultivars: Aglianico and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Within a research project for simulating the nitrogen turnover in vineyard soils and the nitrogen uptake by the grape vine, a previously developed plant growth model (Nendel and Kersebaum 2004) had to be evaluated. A dataset was obtained from a monitoring experiment at three vineyard sites with different soil types, conducted in the years 2003 and 2004.

The Earth’s system is undergoing major changes through a wide range of spatial and temporal scales as a response to growing anthropogenic radiative forcing, which is pushing the whole system far beyond its natural variability. Sources of greenhouse gases largely exceed their sinks, thus leading to a strengthened greenhouse effect. More energy is thereby being supplied to the system, with inevitable shifts in climatic patterns and weather regimes. Over the last decades, these modifications have been manifested in the full statistical distributions of the atmospheric variables, with dramatic changes in the frequency and intensity of extremes. Natural hazards, such as severe droughts, floods, forest fires, or heatwaves, are being triggered by extreme atmospheric events worldwide, thus threatening human activities. Viticultculture is not only exposed to changing climates but is also highly vulnerable, as grapevine phenology and physiological development are strongly controlled by atmospheric conditions. Therefore, the assessment of climate change projections for a given region is critical for climate change adaptation and risk reduction in viticulture. By adopting timely and suitable measures, the future sustainability and resiliency of the sector can be fostered. Climate-grapevine chain modelling is an essential tool for better planning and management. However, the accuracy of the resulting projections is limited by many uncertainties that must be duly taken into account when transferring knowledge to stakeholders and decision-makers. Climate-smart viticulture will comprise ensembles of locally tuned strategies, envisioning both adaptation and mitigation, assisted by emerging technologies and decision-support systems.