The use of viticultural and oenological performance of grapevines to identify terroirs: the example of Sauvignon blanc in Stellenbosch

Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a bioactive phenolic compound with antioxidant activity. Yeast synthetise tyrosol from tyrosine by the Ehrlich pathway which is subsequently hydroxylated to HT. The aim of the present work is to develop and validate an UHPLC–HRMS method to assess the metabolites involved in this pathway as well as to screen Spanish commercial wines for HT bioactive compound.

One of the ways to reduce the use of pesticides is to adapt their dosage to the needs of the plant by using variable rate technology for managing field spatial variability. The recent evolution of technologies in the field of robotics, mechatronics and new information and communication technologies

The crossings of three wild Vitis species are commonly used as rootstocks in wine production worldwide. Factors such as disease resistance and vigor are most important for their selection.
With climate change extending drought conditions and water limitations, the selection of rootstocks conferring increased tolerance to drought takes on greater importance. Therefore, identifying Vitis species with improved drought tolerance and incorporating them into breeding programs could contribute to more resilient rootstocks under water limiting conditions. Furthermore, those species serve as a valuable resource to increase genetic variability of rootstocks. We hypothesize that species native to drier habitats will exhibit superior physiological performance under drought stress.

New Zealand viticulture has long been characterised by sustainable grape growing practices as promoted by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ) as well as by Organic Viticulture.

Grapes composition is a factor well known to affect wines composition and sensory expression. The goal of this study was to evaluate how grapes composition modifications linked to maturity level could affect wines aromatic expression and esters composition.