Characterization of varieties named ‘Caiño’ cultivated from Northwest of Spain

The actual climate changes, together with the strong regulation of the European Union and Spanish government, in search of sustainable viticulture, have forced the recovery of minority varieties, expanding the range of grape varieties, as well as the possible development of wines with unique profiles. In the Ribeira Sacra DO (Spain), a comparative study of the agronomic and qualitative behavior of the ‘Branco lexítimo’ variety has been carried out, compared to the majority white variety in the DO: ‘Godello’, located in the same study plot, with identic soil and climatic conditions. The study contemplated the analysis of phenology and leaf water potential, as well as the productive results and the analysis of the must quality, during four seasons: 2018 – 2021.

It is well known that free varietal thiols, in particular 3-mercaptohexanol (3MH) and 3-mercaptohexyl ace-tate (3MHA), are important constituents to the aroma of New Zealand Sauvignon blanc wines.

Flotation is one of the most used processes for clarifying white grape must after the pressing process. To date, gelatine is the more used fining agent, its action being improved when combined with bentonite and silica sol.

Volatile phenols namely 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol are formed by enzymatic decarboxylation of hydroxycinnamic acids by Brettanomyces yeasts to give vinylphenols and subsequent reduction of the vinyl group to form the correspondent ethylphenols. The presence of these compounds in wine affects negatively its aromatic quality, conferring unpleasant animal and phenolic odor when present in quantities above the olfactory detection threshold [1]. Several methods have been described to remove these undesirable compounds from wines, including the use laccase enzymes [2, 3]. Due to this, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of several natural redox mediators on the activity of Botrytis cinerea laccase against these volatile phenols.

The winegrowing sector consumes a lot of pesticides. Changes in vineyard are necessary in order to reduce or even stop using pesticides, and thus limit their harmful impacts on health and on environment. To answer these issues, the VITAE project (2021-2026) aims at designing pesticide free grapevine systems in France. For that, we take an interest in the vineyards using solutions to strongly reduce chemicals but also biopesticides. We assume that such vineyards exist and that they are implementing solutions that could inspire the design of free- pesticide system.