Soils and plant material in prestigious Bordeaux vineyards impacts on yield and quality

Viticulture is entangled with weather and climate. Therefore, areas currently suitable for grape production can be challenged by climate change. Winegrowers in Italy already experiences the effect of climate change, especially in the form of warmer growing season, more frequent drought periods, and increased frequency of weather extremes.
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of climate variability and change on grape yield in Italy to provide winegrowers the information needed to make their business more sustainable and resilient to climate change. We computed a specific range of bioclimatic indices, selected by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), and correlated them to grape yield data. We have worked in collaboration with some wine consortiums in northern and central Italy, which provided grape yield data for our analysis.
Using climate variables from the E-OBS dataset we investigate how the bioclimatic indices changed in the past, and the impact of this change on grape productivity in the study areas. The climate impact on productivity is also investigated by using high-resolution convection-permitting models (CPMs – 2.2 horizontal resolution), with the purpose of estimating productivity in future emission scenarios. The CPMs are likely the best available option for this kind of impact studies since they allow a better representation of small-scale processes and features, explicitly resolve deep convection, and show an improved representation of extremes. In our study, we also compare CPMs with regional climate models (RCMs – 12 km horizontal resolution) to assess the added value of high-resolution models for impact studies. Further development of our study will lead to assessing the future suitability for vine cultivation and could lead to the construction of a statistical model for future projection of grape yield.

Grape pomace (GP) is a winemaking by-product particularly rich in (poly)phenols and dietary fiber, which are the main active compounds responsible for its health-promoting effects. GP-derived products have been proposed to manage cardiovascular risk factors, including endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and obesity. Studies on the potential impact of GP on gut health are much more recent. However, it is suggested that, to some extent, this activity of GP as a cardiometabolic health-promoting ingredient would begin in the gastrointestinal tract as GP components (i.e., (poly)phenols and fiber) undergo extensive catabolism, mainly by the action of the intestinal microbiota, that gives rise to low-molecular-weight bioactive compounds that can be absorbed and utilized by the body.

According to OIV reports, annual world wine consumption fluctuated around 240-245 mln hL over the past decade. The general market globalization has led to the situation when almost half of the consumed wine is exported to other countries. Of this volume, more than 60 mln hL are bottled still and sparkling wines.

Wine flavanols are extracted from grape skin and seeds along red winemaking. Potentially, eight flavan-3-ol subunits may be present as monomers or as tannins constituents, being these catechin, epicathechin, gallocatechin, epigallocatechin end the gallates of the mentioned units. In this work the flavanol profiles of grape skins and seeds before (grapes) and after (pomace) red winemaking were studied together with the one in the corresponding wines. The trials were made over two vintages in Vitis vinifera cv. Tannat, Syrah and Marselan from Uruguay.

Innovative solutions have been developed for winemakers to adopt in their cultivation practices [1]. Two of the implementations addressed in this study are the use of strains adapted to arid climates (AAC) and the use of varieties resistant to fungal diseases (PIWIs).