Ancient and recent construction of Terroirs

Aims: This work summarizes some of the upmost recent studies and valorization strategies concerning the Prosecco wine production area. After the geographical denomination Prosecco (DO) was strongly reformed in 2009, the newborn DOCG (controlled and guaranteed DO) and DOC (controlled DO) areas have required different and specific strategies to promote and protect the value of their production.

New Plant Breeding Techniques (NPBTs) have arisen with the objective of surmounting the constraints inherent in conventional breeding methodologies, thereby enhancing plant resilience against both biotic and abiotic stresses. To date the application of genome editing in grapevine is still limited by the necessity to overcome recalcitrance to produce embryogenic calli and to regenerate plants. In our studies, we developed a smart and versatile genetic transformation system carrying all the most promising features of different genome editing approaches. In specific, we joined the GRF-GIF expression to improve regeneration, the systemic movement of the editing transcripts through tRNA-like sequences (TLS) and the cisgenic-like approach to remove transgenes.

Smoke impact in wines is caused by a wide range of volatile phenols found in wildfire smoke. These compounds are absorbed and accumulate in berries, where they may also become glycosylated. Both volatile and glycosylated forms eventually end up in wine where they can cause off-flavors. The impact on wine aroma is mainly attributed to volatile phenols, while in-mouth hydrolysis of glycosylated forms may be responsible for long-lasting “ashy” aftertastes (1).

Water use efficiency is one of the most valued objectives in vine growing in mediterranean climates (de la fuente et al., 2015). Due to this, the grape growers provide different adaptation strategies according to their efficient consumption against the presumable water deficit generated under these environmental conditions. The use of non-positioned shoot systems (like sprawl, bush, etc.) Can help to achieve this objective.

The detection of reducing compounds such as phenolic acids, anthocyanins or tannins is of prime importance to decipher on the antioxidant and anti-aging properties of wines.