Soil survey and continuous classification for terroir delineation in the “Colli Orientali del Friuli” wine production area

Forest fires in the vicinity of vineyards have significantly increased in the last decade and are a concern for grapegrowers and winemakers in many wine producing countries. The fires cause smoke drift throughout vineyards which cannot be avoided and may result in the production of wines described as ‘smoke tainted’. Such wines are characterized by undesirable sensory characters described as ‘smoky’, ‘burnt’, ‘ash’ aromas and flavours, and also may cause a lingering, unpleasant ashy aftertaste [1; 2].

Grapevines are grown grafting in most viticultural regions. Grapevine rootstocks are either hybrids or pure species of different American Vitis spp. (particularly V. berlandieri, V. rupestris and V. riparia), which are primarily used to provide root resistance to the insect pest Phylloxera. In addition to Phylloxera resistance, ideally grapevine rootstocks should be resistant to other soil borne pathogens and adapted to abiotic stress conditions. New rootstocks have the potential to adapt agriculture to climate change without changing the characteristics of the harvested product. However, high grafting success rates are an essential prerequisite.

In 2022, wine production was estimated at around 260 million hl. This high production rate implies to generate a large amount of by-products, which include grape pomace, grape stalks and wine lees. It is estimated that processing 100 tons of grapes leads to ~ 22 tons of by-products from which ~ 6 tons are lees [1]. Wine lees are a sludge-looking material mostly made of dead and living yeast cells, yeast debris and other particles that precipitate at the bottom of wine tanks after alcoholic fermentation. Unlike grape pomace or grape stalks, few strategies have been proposed for the recovery and valorisation of wine less [2].

Water availability is the most limiting factor for vineyard productivity under Mediterranean conditions. Due to the effects caused by the current climate change, wine-growing regions may face serious soil moisture conservation problems, due to the lower water retention capacity of the soil and higher soil irradiation. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of soil recharge irrigation in pre-sprouting and summer irrigation every week (30 % ETo) from the pea size state until the end of ripening (RP) compared to exclusively summer irrigation every week (R) in the same way that RP, on berry phenolic composition at harvest.

The ‘Erbaluce‘, a grapevine cultivar from which in the Canavese (Piedmont, Italy) different types of white DOC wines are obtained, is traditionally trained on a support structure commonly known as “pergola” having three to five long “cords” which consist of three cordons and canes interlaced together.