Grapevine production in Chile is facing increasing water deficit problems related to aridization. We studied the use of rootstocks as a strategy for enhancing the performance of cv. Syrah (Sy) and Cabernet Sauvignon (Cs) grapevines under water deficit.

Grape acreage has been expanding rapidly in the cold regions of the U.S. However, the economic sustainability of the grape industry is hampered by freezing damage. It has long been established that sugars play a role in mediating freezing tolerance (FT) in grapes.

Water limitation is one of the major threats affecting grapevine production. At the same time, grapevines are highly subjected to different viruses from which Grapevine leafroll associated virus-3 (GLRaV-3) is one of the most widespread ones.

The effect of grapevine age on growth and berry development was studied from 2014 to 2016 on an experimental vineyard managed by the Hochschule Geisenheim University in Geisenheim, Germany. The vineyard was initially planted in 1971 with Vitis vinifera (L.) cv. Riesling grafted on 5C Teleki.

Climate change scenarios predict increases in the frequency and severity of droughts in arid zones. Under these conditions some plants can rapidly acclimate to stress and further fortify their defenses by retaining memories of stress which enable stronger or more rapid responses if an environmental perturbation recurs.

Grape berry splitting results from excessive tensile stress that builds on the skin. The thin shell theory describes splitting resistance of grape berries as the maximum internal pressure at the point of splitting. Quantifying this relationship in genetically diverse Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Concord grapes enabled us to determine cultivar differences and understand developmental changes in splitting resistance.

Global warming is representing a major challenge for Mediterranean agriculture. Improving irrigation and identifying or obtaining varieties tolerant to water scarcity are being constantly pursued. In this research we contrasted 5 varieties commonly cultivated in many wine-growing areas (Merlot, Garnacha, Shyraz, Malvasia and Muscat of Alexandria) with other five varieties mainly cultivated in Andalusia, Spain (Palomino fino, Rome, Doradilla, Tinto Velasco and Pedro Ximénez).

Flowers and berries abscission (coulure) can lead, during some vintages and for sensitive cultivars, to dramatic yield losses with detrimental impacts on the wine industry. Many exogenous and endogenous factors are known to favor defaults in reproductive development and coulure, among which extreme temperatures and carbon imbalances play a major role.

Malbec is the most important grape variety cultivated in Argentina. In Mendoza, at 1450 m asl, the intensity of natural ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation is high and causes a significant increase on polyphenol content in berries.

In tropical regions, grapevine plants are not usually exposed to extreme low temperatures over the production cycle. As a result, bud break is nonuniform and sprouting is inconsistent. To cope with this, Hydrogen Cyanamide (Dormex®) is used to break bud dormancy and provide uniformness to the vineyard.

There is an increasing interest by the wine industry to know the performance of new winegrape cultivars in traditional areas to find out which cultivars could better complement the traditional wines. In warm areas, isohydric cultivars and high yields are sought in order to save water and to delay maturity.

Gene expression and phenotypic characteristics of plants grown in contrasting environments can be modulated through different epigenetic mechanism such as DNA methylation. This epigenetic mark may act in a dynamic way in response to different environmental conditions were high altitude vines are developed.

In recent years, sunburn has become a major concern to viticulture throughout the world. Given that grapevines differ in heat tolerance, the incidence of sunburn is likely to vary among different cultivars.

Climate change is affecting viticulture particularly because in wine production most of the value is provided by the desired tipicity. High air temperatures decouple grape sugars and anthocyanins accumulation impacting negatively wine composition. In this trial, carried out under the temperature-warm and semi-arid conditions of eastern Spain, we assessed two field strategies in cv. Bobal and Tempranillo aiming to delay ripening to cooler periods; 1) late leaf removal (LLR) and 2) late pruning (LP).

Rotundone is the aroma compound responsible for peppery aroma in red wines which was discovered in 2008 in a Syrah wine from Australia. More recently, it has been found in several cultivars grown in the South West of France such as Duras, Gamay and Malbec.

According to IPCC, in 2001-2010 floods have been the most frequent extreme event. Root exposure to prolonged hypoxic conditions produced by temporary flooding of the soil, may induce the synthesis of stress hormones, the production of reactive oxygen species and undergo metabolic re-programming.

Grapevines are useful model plants for research on the physiology of water stress responses. Variable responses at the stomatal level have been described in different varieties with implications on the hydraulic conductance of the plant and eventually impacts on the tension imposed to the xylem architecture, depending on xylem properties. In order to assess possible associations between stomatal responses (gs) to evaporative demand (VPD), water potentials at the root to leaf gradient, plant hydraulics and xylem morphoanatomical traits, a two-season research study has been conducted in Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), Carmenere (C) and Syrah (S) in the field, under mild water stress (MWS) and well watered (WW) conditions.

Green pruning provides better conditions to the vegetative canopy of the vine, favoring aeration and insolation in the region of the bunches, providing better conditions for its maturation. The use of plant regulators, such as abscisic acid (ABA), has also been studied to increase the concentrations of phenolic compounds in the berry peel of the treated grapes, improving their coloration.

Physiological measurements are the most accurate way of assessing plant water status. However, they are time-consuming, costly and invasive for the plant. Visible to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometers can be used to detect and monitor several biochemical variations in the leaf offering a faster, cheaper and non-destructive alternative to the traditional methods. In this study, hyperspectral images were used to obtain the spectral signatures of grapevine leaves (Vitis Vinifera L. cv. Shiraz) under different water conditions.

For the west of Argentina, vitiviniculture represents the main agricultural industry. In the irrigated valleys where viticulture is developed, the problems of salinity and toxicity of some ions in the soil limit productivity and quality of the obtained products. The tolerance to toxic ions (Cl-, Na+, B (OH)4-) of the commercial grape cultivars is rather low, but it is feasible to use rootstocks that withstand high levels of ions in the soil through different mechanisms.