The influence of different fertiliser applications and canopy management practices on the potassium content and pH of juice and wine of Vitis vinifera L. cvs. Cabernet-Sauvignon and Cabernet franc

Soil is a three-dimensional complex system, which constitutes a major component of Terroir. Soil characteristics strongly influence vine development, grape oenological potentialities and thus wine quality and style.

Acidity of grape berries is lowered due to climate changes (1), resulting in musts and wines with higher pHs. These higher pHs induce microbiological instability

Brandy is a spirit drink made from “wine spirit” (<86% Alcohol by Volume – ABV; high levels of congeners and they are mainly less volatile than ethanol), it may be blended with a “wine distillate” (<94.8%ABV; low levels of congeners and these are mainly more volatile than ethanol), as long as that distillate does not exceed a maximum of 50% of the alcoholic content of the finished product[1]. Brandy must be aged for at least 6 months in oak casks with <1000L of capacity. During ageing, changes occur in colour, flavour, and aroma that improve the quality of the original distillate.

Vitis champinii cultivars Ramsey and Dog-ridge are main choices for rootstocks to adapt viticulture in semi-arid and arid regions thanks to their distinctive tolerance to drought and salinity. However, genetic studies on non-vinifera rootstocks have heavily relied on the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) reference genome, which difficulted the assessment of the genetic variation between rootstock species and grapevines. In the present study, this limitation is addressed by introducing a novo phased genome assembly and annotation of Vitis champinii. This new Vitis champinii genome was employed as reference for mapping RNA-seq reads from the same species under drought and salt stresses, and for comparison the same reads were also mapped to the Vitis vinifera PN40024.V4 reference genome. A significant increase in alignment rate was gained when mapping Vitis champinii RNA-seq reads to its own genome, compared to the Vitis vinifera PN40024.V4 reference genome, thus revealing the expression levels of genes specific to Vitis champinii. Moreover, differences in coding sequences were observed in ortholog genes between Vitis champinii and Vitis vinifera, which therefore challenges previous differential expression analyses performed between contrasting Vitis genotypes on the same gene from the Vitis vinifera genome. Genes with possible implications in drought and salt tolerance have been identified across the genome of Vitis champinii, and the same genomic data can potentially guide the discovery of candidate genes specific from Vitis champinii for other traits of interest, therefore becoming a valuable resource for rootstock breeding designs, specially towards increased drought and salinity due to climate change.

In Castilla-La Mancha as other winegrowing regions, vineyards suffer the effects of the global climate warming. Severe spring and summer droughts are increasingly frequent, which concur with the phenological stages most susceptible to water and temperature stress. Under these conditions, irrigation use is required in order to ensure the vineyard growing sustainability. However water resources are increasingly limited, for this reason is required to choose cultivars displaying high water use efficiency.