Comparison of the free radical-scavenging activity in infected oidium and sound dolcetto grape cultivar grown in a terroir of Central Italy

Drought is one of the main challenges for viticulture in the context of global change. The choice of rootstock could be leveraged for vineyard adaptation to drought as we can improve plant performance without modifying the scion variety. However, most of the existing rootstocks, selected over a century ago, have a narrow genetic background which could compromise their adaptive potential.

An organoleptic defect, called fresh mushrooms off-flavor (FMOff), appeared in wines and spirits since the 2000’s. Numerous researches demonstrated that octen-3-one, 3-octanol and octen-3-ol (C8 compounds) were involved in the mushroom off-flavor in wines

The bunch rot induced by Botrytis cinerea is an important disease of grapevine that causes a diminution of grape quality and a considerable yield loss leading to an economic loss

SO2 is an additive widely used as antimicrobial in winemaking industry. However, this compound can negatively affect health, so the search for alternatives is currently a line of research of great interest. One of the proposed alternatives to SO2 as an antimicrobial is the use of bioprotection yeasts, which colonize the medium preventing the proliferation of undesirable microorganisms.

Drought stress has a profound impact on grapevine productivity and significantly alters key quality-related traits of berries. Although research has been conducted on the effects of individual drought events, there is still a knowledge gap regarding the cumulative consequences of repeated exposure to water scarcity and the influence of the timing of stress imposition. To address this gap, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the impacts of repeated drought stress on yield, berry composition, and the phenolic profile of grape berries. The results indicate that yield is primarily influenced by pre-veraison water deficit. Although the number of clusters was only slightly reduced, a substantial decrease in berry size was observed, resulting in a notable reduction in overall yield.