Topic 2 – Low-input production

Biocontrol using non-Saccharomyces yeasts is an alternative strategy to chemical additives to prevent the growth of spoilage microorganisms.

Growing concerns over the environmental and health risks posed by chemical pesticides have highlighted the need to reduce their use in the agri-food sector.

Flavescence dorée (FD) poses a significant threat to grapevine health, with the American grapevine leafhopper, Scaphoideus titanus, serving as the primary vector.

In recent years, the use of amphorae in winemaking has become more frequent, symbolizing a return to the origins of vinification to broaden the availability of wines with different style.

Grapevine (Vitis spp.) is a globally significant fruit crop and enhancing its agronomic and oenological traits is crucial to meet changing agricultural conditions and consumer demands.

The H2020 RUSTICA project aims to propose, demonstrate, and implement technical solutions to convert organic residues from fruit and vegetables into high-quality novel bio-based fertilisers (BBF).

Metschnikowia pulcherrima is a well-studied non-conventional oenological yeast due to its positive contributions to winemaking as a bioprotective agent and as an aroma-enhancing starter in sequential fermentations with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Binati et al., 2023; Canonico et al., 2023).

Chitosan is a natural polymeric saccharide admitted by EU since 2011 for must and wine clarification, the reduction of some contaminants (e.g. ochratoxin A) and to prevent the development of wine microbialspoilage due to lactic acid bacteria or Dekkera/Brettanomyces yeasts.

Disease-resistant hybrid grape cultivars (DRHGCs) are hybrids of Vitis vinifera varieties with other Vitis species, and they are endowed with greater resistance to specific fungal diseases, enabling a potential reduction in the application of pesticides in the vineyard.

The addition of sulphur dioxide (SO2) is the method traditionally used for wine stabilisation, due to its broad spectrum of action against unwanted microorganisms and its ability to prevent oxidative phenomena.

The classification of enological tannins has gained importance following the OIV’s requirement to include their botanical origin on product labels (OIV-OENO 624-2022).

The postharvest dehydration of grapes is a traditional practice to obtain wines with unique traits (e.g., sweet, dry/reinforced).

Over the past two decades, climate change has contributed to an increase in sugar content in grape must, and consequently, in the ethanol levels of wines.

While SO2 is one of the oldest and widest additive used in enology for its well-known antioxidant, anti-laccase and antimicrobial properties, it can cause health problems in some individuals.

Oenological tannins (OETs) are an alternative to sulphur dioxide due to their antioxidant and antioxidase properties in the early phase of winemaking [1,2].