A team from the Desertification Research Center (CIDE), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the University of Valencia and the Generalitat Valenciana, has developed a work in which it demonstrates that an orientation of the vegetation of the vine towards the west, through an innovative adaptation of the traditional vertical trellis, improves the composition of the grapes and the wine. The study, recently published in open access in the journal OENO One, points to this system as a way to adapt to the increase in temperatures due to climate change.
The research shows that, in a trellised vineyard with a north-south orientation of the rows, the most common in vine cultivation in our country, the composition of the grapes and wine can be improved by tilting the shoots towards the west. It is possible to increase the color of the wine and the phenolic maturity of the grape by optimizing the exposure of the leaves and clusters to solar radiation, and protecting them from excessive exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day. It should be noted that the phenolic content of the grape refers to the chemical compounds that directly influence the flavor, color and freshness in the mouth of the wines.
As explained in the work developed by the CIDE Water and Crops Research Group, this vine distribution system allows the vineyard to adapt to the most extreme conditions of climate change, without the need to vary the plant material or the location of the crop. , thus being able to maintain the initial planting and only vary the orientation of the vegetation. All of this can be implemented thanks to a folding trellis system compatible with vineyard mechanization.
As Diego Intrigliolo Molina, CSIC researcher and coordinator of the work, explains, “the main application of this system of distribution and orientation of the shoots lies in the production of high-quality, high-end wines, since it can serve to improve the composition.” of the grape and allow longer aging of the wines. “By starting from grapes with more phenolic content, longer aging can be carried out.”
Another possible application of the research may be the mitigation of the negative effects of water stress, since through the novel conduction system the radiation intercepted by the vines can be reduced during the hours of the day in which the evaporative demand is greater.
The trial was carried out during two consecutive campaigns in a vineyard under deficient irrigation of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Bobal located in Requena (Valencia), under a warm-temperate climate. Bobal is, after Tempranillo, the second variety of red grape grown in Spain.
Adaptation strategies
In recent years, scientists and viticulturists have explored field strategies to address the adverse effects of climate change on grape composition. Possible adaptation strategies may include early harvesting, although this may not be viable as it would not allow the grapes to reach the proper phenolic maturity, relocating vineyards to cooler locations, and modifying the genetic material used, such as varieties, clones. and vine rootstocks.
Other adaptation strategies involve changes in field management techniques, including irrigation, delaying vine phenology with late winter pruning, modulating light interception, adjustments to vine architecture, canopy management, etc. .
The study carried out by the CIDE team focuses on the benefits of canopy management by tilting the traditional positioning system of vertical shoots by 30 degrees towards the west. The vertical system is the most used in grapes that will be dedicated to wine production, since it allows mechanical harvesting and effective management of the vegetation to achieve more shoots, thus improving yield and offering wines with superior sensory characteristics as a result.
Aromatic analysis of the west-facing vineyards revealed that the resulting wines had higher concentrations of esters (fermentative aromas) and higher alcohols than the other management strategies. These results demonstrate that the inclination of the vine plant canopy can be a useful technique to adapt the composition of the must and the quality of the wine to climate change by increasing the interception of solar radiation in the morning and decreasing the warming of the clusters in the afternoon.
The conclusions of the work point to a line of research on the potential in canopy management practices to regulate the radiation load in different crops and environmental conditions. It also provides information on the physiological bases of its effects on the water status of the vine and the microclimate of the cluster.
Scientific personnel from the University Institute of Food Engineering (FoodUPV) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research (IVIA – Generalitat Valenciana) have also participated in the research, developed by the CIDE team.
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