Future scenarios for viticultural climatic zoning in Europe

La caratterizzazione della frazione volatile aromatica dei vini attraverso l’analisi quali­quantitativa dei diversi composti, ha portato corne primo risultato la netta differenziazione delle annate in prova.

Aim: To define the uniqueness of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon wines by evaluation of the chemical composition (volatile aroma and non-volatile constituents) that may drive regional typicity, and to correlate this with comprehensive sensory analysis data to identify the most important compounds driving relevant sensory attributes.

Phenolic compounds or polyphenols are the most abundant and ubiquitous secondary metabolites present in the plant kingdom with more than 8000 phenolic structures currently known. These compounds play an important role in plant growth and reproduction, providing protection against biotic and abiotic stress such as pathogen and insect attack, UV radiation and wounding. (poly)phenols are widely distributed in the human diet mainly in plant-derived food and beverages (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, tea and red wine).

The traditional pruning system in Piedmont (North-West Italy) is the Guyot system; it requires trained personnel, difficult to find, and it does not permit the mechanization of winter pruning, thus it is very expensive. An alternative technique that could allow the reduction of the vineyard management costs could be the spur-pruning which is simpler to perform and fully mechanized.

Nitrogen (N2) is critical in grape berries, especially in organic wine making. After intake, N2 follows various metabolic and allocation routes and, from veraison, partly reallocates into berries. Water deficit affects the N2 nutrition due to a poor diffusion in soil solution and vascular mobilisation. Also, affects photosynthesis and the energy needed for metabolism, whose extent would depend on the stomatal sensitivity of the plant. We have assessed the effect of a moderate water deficit from pea size, in 3 years old field grown potted plants of Chardonnay (CH) and Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), differing in stomatal sensitivity, on the N2 status of plant parts. Water deficit reduced photosynthesis, leaf area and fresh and dry plant mass along the season, but up to a higher extent in CS.