Tempranillo in semi-arid tropical climate (Pernambuco-Brazil). Adaptation of some clones and their affinity to different rootstocks

Wine production is a complex multi-step process and the end-product is not easily defined in terms of composition and quality due to the diversity of the raw materials (grapes) and the biological agents (yeast and bacteria) used/present during the fermentation. Furthermore, linking what happens in the vineyard to the wine fermentation and ultimately to characteristics in the wine during ageing

Grappa is a traditional Italian alcoholic beverage, with an alcohol content generally between 40-60% vol., obtained from the distillation of grape pomace used for the production of wine. Grappa are often aged in wooden barrels. There are various types of grappa: young, aromatic, aged, extra-aged depending on whether the distillate comes from aromatic vines or is aged in wooden barrels for shorter or longer periods. There is also flavored grappa if herbs, fruit or roots are added. All this makes it an extremely heterogeneous product both from an organoleptic and compositional point of view.

Vineyard mechanization will be addressed in this review paper primarily as related to pruning and harvesting since these operations typically require a great deal of the total yearly labour demand (Intrieri and Poni, 1998). However, to be able to define how mechanization interacts with “terroir”, a rigorous definition of the latter term is needed.

Wine perception results from the interaction between the wine and its intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics and the experience [1], background and beliefs of the consumer [2,3]. Among all of the factors affecting wine perception, in this study we focused on culture and cognitive processes, working under the hypothesis that higher familiarity with wines would induce higher perceived quality. Furthermore, we hypothesised that culture would influence the verbalisation of wine properties associated with the different experiences of consumers from different cultures.

Samples from 3 wine types were treated with a cationic exchange resin (7 lots) and stored for 8 years (47 samples). Forty-seven parameters were determined, including (1) important substrates with impact in white wine oxidation and (2) markers of oxidation. From group 1, sugars, elements, phenolic compounds, α-dicarbonyls and SO2 and from group 2, browning (A420), acetaldehyde, alkanals, furanic compounds were quantified.