Phenolic characterization of four different red varieties with “Caíño” denomination cultivated in Northwestern Spain

The aim of the project was to characterize the Premium Denomination of Guaranteed Origin (DOCG) “Colline Teramane” wine-growing region and to delineate and define homogeneous zones (terroir units) within it, by applying a multivariate clustering approach combined with geomatics.

The elaboration of sparkling wine is a demanding process requiring technical as well as scientific skills. Uncovering the role of the terroir to the final product quality is of great importance for the wine market. Although the impact of the yeast strains and their metabolites on the final product quality is well documented, the action of bacteria still remains unknown. The malolactic fermentation (MLF) is carried out by the lactic acid bacteria after the alcoholic fermentation in order to ensure the microbial stability during the second fermentation that takes place in the bottle or in tanks. Oenococcus oeni is the only selected species to drive MLF that has been commercialized for sparkling wine elaboration and it is naturally present on grapes, in the cellar and also in the final product. However, whether the bacterial strain contributes to the sensory characteristics of sparkling wine is still questioned.

Red wines felt as astringent and bitter generally show high content of tannins due to grape phenolic compounds’ extraction in the maceration process. Among different enological practices, mannoproteins have been shown to improve the mouthfeel of red wines (1) and the color (2,3). In this work, we evaluated the effect of mannoproteins on the mouthfeel profile of Sangiovese wines obtained by excessive tannin extraction.

The production of table grapes in Chile is of great importance, being one of the main established fruit crops with over 43,000 hectares distributed across a diverse climate range, from the southern limit of the Atacama desert to the mediterranean zone. Chile is also one of the leading exporters of table grapes. producers must confront the challenges posed by the climate crisis, such as decreased rainfall, increased heatwaves, and extreme temperature events during the growing season, mainly associated with desertification in northern Chile (Atacama and Coquimbo regions).

Cis-acting regulatory elements are DNA sequences that can be bound by transcription factors to regulate the expression of genes in a condition-dependent and tissue-specific way. It is nowadays possible to search for DNA motives and sequences that a given transcription factor is binding or at least can, but it is still hard to have a glance at all the transcription factors that are contemporaneously located at the same locus. Inspired by an existing technique that uses the CRISPR-Cas system in mammal cells, we are trying to develop a protocol to study such regulation in Vitis vinifera. Using the highly sequence-specific binding capacity of a catalytically inactive Cas9 protein (dCas9), our idea is to set up a system to target a desired sequence and precipitate all the crosslinked proteins and distantly interacting chromatin at this locus and analyze them.