The estimation of the clear-sky effective PAR resources in a mountain area

Context and purpose of the study. Climate change in many Mediterranean wine-growing regions is resulting in lower rainfall and higher reference evapotranspiration, generally leading to reduced water availability for vines.

The accurate estimation of yield is a fundamental for suitable viticulture, playing a pivotal role in the planning of logistics, the allocation of resources and the formulation of commercial strategies.

Light is responsible for adverse reactions in wine including the formation of unpleasant flavors, loss of vitamins or photodegradation of anthocyanins. Among them, the riboflavin degradation leads to the formation of undesirable volatile compounds, known as light-struck taste. These photo-chemical reactions could be avoided by simply using opaque packaging. However, most rosé wines are kept in transparent bottles due to different commercial reasons. Some agri-food waste extracts have been studied for their photoprotective action which turn to be highly correlated with phenolic content [1].

Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch) ordinarily has great difficulty establishing leaf galls on the European Grapevine (VitisviniferaL.). Yet populations of leaf-feeding Phylloxera are increasingly being observed throughout commercial vineyards world-wide. Effective plant protection strategies including quarantine actions are currently missing to fight, grape phylloxera populations in affected vineyards and combat linked negative effects on vines and yield. Contrary to the otherwise mandatory continuous infestation pressure from externally established populations (e.g. from populations developed on rootstock foliage or other interspecific hybrids, these leaf-feeding populations seem to establish themselves annually.

With climate change, the occurrence of wildfires has increased in several viticultural regions of the world. Subsequently, smoke taint has become a major issue, threatening the sustainability of the wine industry.