The use of local knowledge relating to vineyard performance to identify viticultural terroirs in Stellenbosch and surrounds

For a long time, cool climate grapevine breeding has striven for early ripening cultivars to adapt to the former climate conditions.

Climate change and the growing need to reduce the use of phytosanitary products demand the exploration of disease-resistant grape varieties and/or adapted to drought conditions.

The importance of polyphenols, which are present in many vegetables and grapes too, is well-know and documented. Specific research works about the red grape

Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a phenolic compound present in olives, virgin olive oil and wine. HT has attracted great scientific interest due to its biological activities which have been related with the ortho-dihydroxy conformation in the aromatic ring. In white and red wines, HT has been detected at concentrations ranging from 0.28 to 9.6 mg/L and its occurrence has been closely related with yeast metabolism of aromatic amino acids by Ehrlich pathway during alcoholic fermentation. One of the most promising properties of this compound is the neuroprotective activity against pathological mechanisms related with neurode-generative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Does a white wine smell like red wine if you color it with red food coloring? A study by Morrot, Brochet, and Dubourdieu (2001, Brain and Language) suggests so. Subjects perceived red wine odors when tasting white wine that had been colored red. The perceived odor profile of the colored white wine became similar to that of a red wine. However, the forced-choice procedure used by Morrot et al. has some methodological shortcomings. Here, we used an alternative method (a rating procedure) to evaluate the presented wines.