Integration of the AOC and terroir concepts by future professionals of the international wine sector

The management of oxygen during winemaking and aging is a big issue in order to achieve high quality wines. The correct amount of O2 improves aroma, astringency, bitterness and color, however an excess of oxygen promotes the appearance of yellow

The study of cultural practices to delay ripening and the characterization of their effect on wine composition is important in the mitigation of accelerated ripening caused by higher temperatures

Climate change impacts regional and local climates, which in turn affects the world’s wine regions. In the short term, these modifications rises issues about maintaining quality and style of wine, and in a longer term about the suitability of grape varieties and the sustainability of traditional wine regions. Thus, adaptation to climate change represents a major challenge for viticulture. In this context, island and coastal vineyards could become coveted areas due to their specific climatic conditions. In regions subject to warming, the proximity of the sea can moderate extremes temperatures, which could be an advantage for wine. However, coastal and island areas are particular prized spaces and subject to multiple pressures that make the establishment or extension of viticulture complex.
In this perspective, it seems relevant to assess the potentialities of coastal and island areas for viticulture. This contribution will present a spatial optimization model that tends to characterize most suitable agroclimatic patterns in historical or emerging vineyards according to different scenarios. Thanks to an in-depth bibliography a global inventory of coastal and insular vineyards on a worldwide scale has been realized. Relevant criteria have been identified to describe the specificities of these vineyards. They are used as input data in the optimization process, which will optimize some objectives and spatial aspects. According to a predefined scenario, the objectives are set in three main categories associated with climatic characteristics, vineyards characteristics and management strategies. At the end of this optimization process, a series of maps presents the different spatial configurations that maximize the scenario objectives.

One of the characteristics of the terroir zoning studies that is more complex to manage is the scale dependence. Thus, terroir zoning studies of the same area at different scales are comparable but not equal. Fractal analysis has demonstrated to be a suitable tool to characterize and model natural elements within a defined range of scales.

Climate transition with frequent heat waves and long drought periods threatens grapevine productivity and wine quality in the Mediterranean regions. Microorganisms are known to contribute to plant fitness and to stimulate plant resilience against biotic and abiotic factors.
In this work, it was assessed the impact of long-term drought on soil microbiome associated to grapevine in open field in Alentejo, renowned Portuguese wine region.
Soil and plant tissues of drought tolerant Syrah cultivar exposed to three irrigation levels (100%- FI, 50%-DI ETc; rain-fed–NI) for 5 years were sampled for two years (2022-2023). Metabarcoding analysis of soil bacteria (16S V4 rRNA) and fungi (ITS sub-region) were integrated with soil physiochemical properties and leaves´ physiological data. Pre-dawn leaf water potential and stomatal conductance confirmed the imposed drought scenarios. Even though, α- and β-diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities differed more by season than water availability, samples clustered according to soil water content and pH (p<0.05). Fungal communities show higher differences in the structure across treatments than bacteria. In 2023, 16 bacterial against 61 fungal ASVs were significatively different in abundance between NI and FI. Beijerinckiaceae, Bradyrhizobiaceae (Alphaproteobacteria) and Nocardioidaceae, Streptomycetaceae (Actinobacteria) families resulted to be significatively more abundant in NI, while Ascomycota, Basidyomicota and Mortierellomycota are the most important fungal phyla in NI. With culturomics data, this study aims to gather insights into how soil microbiome is remodelled under drought and contribute to select bacterial and fungal taxa with potential to mitigate drought stress in vineyards.