Influence of edapho-climatic factors on grape quality in Conca de Barberà vineyards (Catalonia, Spain)

Condensed tannins (also called proanthocyanidins) are a widely distributed throughout in plants kingdom and are one of the most important classes of secondary metabolites, in addition, they are part of the human diet. In wine, they are extracted during the winemaking process from grape skins and seeds. These compounds play an important role in red wine organoleptic characteristics such as color, bitterness and astringency. Condensed tannins in red wine are oligomers and polymers of flavan-3-ols unit such as catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin and epicatechin-3-O-gallate. The monomeric units can be linked among them with direct interflavanoid linkage or mediated by aldehydes.

Amino acids are crucial nitrogen sources in yeast metabolism, influencing both biomass production and fermentation rate. The breakdown byproducts of amino acids contribute to the aroma of the wine and wine’s health benefit compounds. This study focused on the yeast’s extracellular metabolic profile of tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine belonging to the group of aromatic amino acids in experimental Maraština wines. Alcoholic fermentations were conducted on sterile grape Maraština must using seven autochthonous non-Saccharomyces yeasts in sequential fermentation with commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Serbian autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka (for white wines) and Prokupac (for rosé and red wines) are the primary representatives of typical characteristics of wines and terroir of numerous wine-growing areas in Serbia. In the past, these varieties were the leading vine varieties, however, as the result of globalization of winemaking and the trend of consumption of wines from widely prevalent vine varieties, they were replaced by introduced international varieties. Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties are characterized by later time of grape ripening, and relative sensitivity to low temperatures. Climate conditions can be a restrictive factor for production of high-quality grapes and wine and for the spatial spreading of these varieties in hilly continental wine-growing areas.
This paper focuses on the spatial analysis of changes of main climate parameters, in particular, analysis of viticultural bioclimatic indices that were determined for the purposes of viticulture zoning of wine-growing areas in the period 1961-2010, and those same parameters determined for the current, that is, referential climate period (1988-2017). Results of the research, that is, analysis of climate changes indicate that the majority of examined climate parameters in the Oplenac wine-growing district improved from the perspective of Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties. These studies of climate conditions indicate that changes of analyzed climate parameters, that is, bioclimatic indices will be favorable for cultivation of varieties with later grape ripening times and those more sensitive to low temperatures, such as the autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka and Prokupac, therefore, it is recommended to producers to more actively plant vineyards with these varieties in the territory of the Oplenac wine-growing district.

The integration of sensor systems in viticulture is significantly improving vineyard management by enabling faster, comprehensive crop data collection across the entire vineyard, supporting more informed viticultural decision-making, and as a result promoting sustainability.

Water and heat stress impose new challenges to irrigation management in the Mediterranean areas. This reality has a major impact on the vineyard ecosystem, particularly on the scarce water resources of the Alentejo region (South Portugal). To mitigate this problem, irrigation management should focus on optimizing yield and fruit quality per volume of water applied. This work aims to discuss the use of predawn leaf water potential and soil water status relationships as a decision tool for irrigation management taking as basis data from a field trial where two deficit irrigation strategies were compared.