Geochemistry of Vrbničko Polje (Croatia) winegrowing site

AIM: Vitamins are essential compounds to numerous organisms, including yeasts, and appear highly significant during winemaking processes.

Several Eurasian wild grapevine populations were found along Extremadura region (southwestern Spain). For conservation and study, one individual from four different populations (named L1, L2, L5 and L6) was vegetatively propagated and planted at Instituto de Investigaciones Agrarias Finca La Orden (CICYTEX), Badajoz. The aim of the present work was to characterize those conserved individuals from four different populations based on both an ampelographic description and a molecular analysis. Three vines per individual were studied.

Heat and water stress can accelerate berry sugar accumulation and lead to excessive sugar-to-acid ratios at harvest, producing bland, overly-alcoholic wines. Selecting grapevines for slower sugar accumulation could help maintain wine quality under future, hotter conditions, but these efforts have been stymied by our limited understanding of the traits determining sugar accumulation rates. Here, we measured traits characterizing the structure and anatomy of the sugar transport system – the phloem – in 16 winegrape cultivars and tested for relationships with sugar accumulation rates and cultivar climate classifications.

The use of new fungus disease-tolerant grapevine varieties is a long-term and promising solution to reduce chemical input in viticulture. However, little is known about the effects of water deficit (WD) on the thiol aromatic potential of new varieties coming up from breeding programs. Varietal thiols such as 3-sulfanylhexan-ol (3SH), 4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one (4MSP) and their derivatives are powerful aromatic compounds present in wines coming from odorless precursors in grapes, and could contribute to the wine typicity of such varieties.

​For several years, the chemistry of taste has aroused high interest both from academics and industrials. Plant kingdom is a rich and reliable source of new taste-active compounds. Many sweet, bitter or sour molecules have been identified in various plants [1]. They belong to diverse chemical families and their sensory properties are strongly affected by slight structural modifications. As a consequence, the investigation of natural taste-active products in a given matrix appears as a major challenge for chemists. Such studies are particularly relevant in oenology since they allow a better understanding of wine and spirit taste.