Successful technology transfer of the early defoliation technique in cv. Mandó, an autochthon variety from south-east Spain

Aim: To investigate the possibility of utilising simultaneous measurements of absorbance-transmittance and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (A-TEEM) combined with chemometrics, as a robust method that gives rapid results for classification of wines from different regions of South Australia according to their Geographical Indication (GI), and to gain insight into the effect of terroir on inter regional variation.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah are the top red wine cultivars in CA, however, the hot climate in Fresno is not ideal for red Vitis Vinifera, particularly for berry color development. Mechanical pruning and irrigation were studied previously to significantly affect grapevine yield performance and berry quality. But there is lack of studies on cordon height and irrigation on mechanical pruned vineyard system.

The mechanisms behind thiol precursor accumulation in grapes remain incompletely understood, nor are the ways in which they can be improved by agronomic practices. A six-year field trial studied the physiological response of the Swiss white cultivar Vitis vinifera Arvine, rich in varietal thiols and precursors, to canopy management, i.e. leaf removal and canopy height.. Five treatments were set up in a randomized block design to assess the impacts of 1) pre-flowering LR (i.e. pre-flowering or full-flowering stages) and 2) compensating for the leaf area removed in the cluster zone by increasing the trimming height (i.e. 100 or 150 cm canopy height), compared with a non-defoliated control treatment.
Intensive pre-flowering LR severely reduced yield potential (–47% on average) and reduced the concentration of 3-mercaptohexanol precursors (P-3MH) in the must (–21%; p-value < 0.10).

Plant water status of grapevine plays a critical role in affecting berry and final wine chemical composition. The environmental variabilities existing in vineyard system have significant impacts on plant water status, but it is challenging to individualize environmental factors from the temporal and spatial variabilities in vineyard. Therefore, there is need to monitor the ecophysical variation through utilizing precision viticulture tools in order to minimize the separation in berry composition. This study aims at delineating vineyard into different management zones based on plant water status explained by soil texture, and utilize differential harvest to equilibrate the final berry and wine composition.

INTRODUCTION: Lately, there has been an increasing interest in using plant-derived proteins for wine phenolic fining.