Recommended grapevine varieties for the vineyards zone Vrsac and trend meteorological elements

The fortress of the Herodium, built towards the end of the first century BCE/ante Cristo, on the orders of Herod the Great, Roman client king of Judea, attests the expansion of Roman influence in the eastern Mediterranean. During archaeological excavations of the Herodium in 2017[1], a winery was discovered on the ground floor of the palace, with an assortment of clay vessels in situ, including large dolia – clay fermentation vessels each capable of fermenting up to 300-400 L of wine. Thanks to the recent progresses in the field of paleogenomics[2], we could analyse the organic material consistent with grape pomace at the bottom of these vessels, by extracting and sequencing the DNA using shotgun metagenomics and targeted capture, aiming for enrichment of DNA from fermentation associated microbes.

Climate change imposes increasing restrictions and risks to Mediterranean viticulture. Extreme heat and drought stress events are becoming more frequent which puts in risk sustainability of Mediterranean viticulture. Moreover row crops e.g. grapevine for wine, are increasingly prone to the impact of more intense/longer exposure time to heat stress. The amplified effects of soil surface energy reflectance and conductance on soil-atmosphere heat fluxes can be harmful for leaf and berry physiology.

Under the pressure of global warming, several wine grape growing regions around the world are increasingly suffering from advanced and compressed phenology; endangering wine character while also creating serious logistic problems. From a physiological standpoint, the issue of delaying ripening is not simple as, in several instances, only a few processes must be delayed (i.e. sugar accumulation into the berries) while other events such as pigmentation and accumulation of other important phenolic compounds should proceed at a normal rate. Thus, the issue of decoupling technological maturity from phenolic maturity is another important consideration. Over the last decades, several research groups have endeavored to establish alternate cultural practices aimed at addressing this decoupling. In some cases, special applications of quite robust and well known practices regarding physiological principles have been utilized, however some completely new techniques are also being studied. In figure 1 of the review, we offer a panorama of the available tools and in the text we elaborate on those having provided most reliable and consistent results under an array of genotypes and environmental conditions. Among these, primary focus is given to post‐veraison—apical to the cluster—leaf removal (that can also be suitably replaced by applications of anti‐transpirants); the use of kaolin against multiple summers’ stresses; and a drastic version of late winter pruning having the potential to postpone ripening into a cooler period with improved grape composition and a limited negative impact on yield and storage reserves replenishment. 

In recent years characterized by hot dry summers, the implementation of innovative irrigation tools in the vineyard represents a crucial challenge to ensure optimal production and to avoid excess of water consumption. It is known that the grapevine reacts to multiple stresses – i.e., high temperatures and wa- ter shortage – through adaptive mechanisms that are detrimental to the yield. Furthermore, this condi- tion is usually aggravated by high solar radiation, which could negatively affect the phenolic composi- tion of the grapes. Therefore, a cooling system has been developed aiming to reduce bunches’ sunburn damage.

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the terroir of Saint-Romain, Burgundy, based on three main information sources: official data relating to vines (CVI), soil cartography and a survey of winegrowers’ practices.