 IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Macrowine 9 Macrowine 2021 9 Chemical diversity of 'special' wine styles: fortified wines, passito style, botrytized and ice wines, orange wines, sparkling wines 9 Vinhos de talha: to pitch or not to pitch

Vinhos de talha: to pitch or not to pitch

Abstract

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. The clay vessels used have different coatings: epoxy resin, bee wax, new pitch, old pitch and no coating. Wines were analyzed after the opening of the vessels in November. Oenological parameters as alcohol, pH, total and volatile acidity, sulphur dioxide, and reducing sugars were measured according to OIV (OIV, 2014) The volatile composition was analyzed by headspace solid phase microextraction hyphenated with gas chromatography / mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS), following a methodology based on Martins et al (2018). A linear discriminant analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20, and as it is a supervised technique where there is the need to assign groups of variables to the data set, we considered the volatile compounds in wines (independent variables), to classify different types of wines (grouping variable), according to the vessel coating. LDA shows that wines can be discriminated according to different clay vessels impermeabilization materials, being the most similar the ones from clay vessels with no coating and the ones from clay vessels with old pitch.

DOI:

Publication date: September 15, 2021

Issue: Macrowine 2021

Type: Article

Authors

Maria João Cabrita

MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal.,Raquel GARCIA MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Departamento de Fitotecnia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal. Flávia FREITAS; Marco Gomes da SILVA LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.

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Keywords

vinhos de talha; volatile profiling; hs-spme; gc/ms

Citation

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

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Water deficit differentially impacts the performances and the accumulation of grape metabolites of new varieties tolerant to fungi

The use of resistant varieties is a long-term but promising solution to reduce chemical input in viticulture. Several important breeding programs in Europe and abroad are now releasing a range of new hybrids performing well regarding fungi susceptibility and producing good quality wines. Unfortunately, insufficient attention is paid by the breeders to the adaptation of these varieties to climatic changes, notably to the increased climatic demand and water deficit (WD). Thus, prior to the adoption of such varieties by the wine industry in Mediterranean regions, there is a need to consider their suitability to WD. This study aimed to characterize the different drought-strategies adopted by 6 new resistant varieties selected by INRAE in comparison to Syrah. To allow the assessment of long-term impacts of WD, field-grown vines were exposed to contrasted WD from 2018 to 2021 under a semi-arid Mediterranean climate. A gradient of WD was applied in the field and controlled through plant measurements at the single plant level. Grape development was non-destructively monitored to determine the arrest of berry phloem unloading. The impacts of WD on berry composition, including water, primary metabolites (sugars, organic acids), secondary metabolites (anthocyanins, thiols precursors) and main cations contents, were assessed at this specific stage. Results showed different varietal responses during the year and inter-annual acclimation in terms of plant water use efficiency, biomass accumulation, as well as yield components and berry composition. WD differentially reduced the accumulation of primary metabolites at plant and berry levels, but it little changed their concentrations in the fruits at the ripe stage. Moreover, WD differentially impacted the accumulation of secondary metabolites and major cations between the varieties. In the talk, we’ll present the main results regarding the WD impacts on fruit metabolites and enlarge the reflection about the practical assessment of the grapevine acclimation to WD.

Short-term relationships between climate and grapevine trunk diseases in southern French vineyards

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