From vineyard to a glass of wine : the effect of abscisic acid applications on Mouhtaro, a rare autochthonus variety of Greece

Miliordos Dimitrios-Evangelos¹; Kontoudakis Nikolaos¹;Aggeliki Kouki¹; Zacharias Nikolaos⁴; Alatzas Anastasios²; Chatzopoulos Polydeykis²; Marianne Unlubayir³, Arnaud Lanoue³; Kotseridis Yorgos^1
1 Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Laboratory of Enology and Alcoholic Drinks, 75 IeraOdos, 11855 Athens, Greece
² Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Biotechnology, Molecular Biology Laboratory, 75 IeraOdos, 11855 Athens, Greece
³ Université François-Rabelais de Tours, EA 2106 «Biomolécules et BiotechnologieVégétales», UFR des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, 31 Av. Monge, F37200 Tours, France
⁴ Muses Estate, Askri Viotias, 32002, Greece

Email contact:  dim.miliordos[@]gmail.com

In a context of a sustainable viticulture, a new uprising strategy to improve grape and wine composition (or quality) is the exogenous application of plant activators(Gil-Muñoz et al., 2017). This treatment stimulates the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in grape berries (Ruiz-García et al., 2013)

In an open field, the plant hormone (Abscisic Acid), was applied on a red grape variety Mouhtaro cultivated at the Muses Valley (Askri, Viotia, Greece). Treatments were in triplicates during veraison in a randomized complete block design, with 10 vines in each replicate. Vines were sprayed at veraison stage, 3 and 6 days after the first application, at 2 different concentrations and grapes were harvested at optimum sugar maturity. Targeted UPLC-MS analysis was performed since It was suggested that exogenous ABA influence specific polyphenolic compounds. Then, classic red winemaking procedure was applied. The effect of exogenous ABA application on gene expression level was also examined. Standard analytical methods recommended by O.I.V. were used for grapes and wines as well as analysis for the phenolic composition.

The pH increased in wines originated from grape berries treated with higher doses. Accordingly, phenolic compounds were higher in ABA-treated grapes and respective wines Similarly, the expression of specific genes encoding for key enzymes of the phenylpropanoid pathway was upregulated. As a consequence, Abscisic Acid affected the composition and sensory analysis of the wines differently.

The unique wine profiles of Mouhtaro and their different responses to biostimulant factors could be valuable for developing various types of Mouhtaro red wines with improved quality and cultural characteristics.

Acknowledgements. This research has been co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code:T1EDK- 04200 (MU-SA))

References:

Gil-Muñoz, R.; Fernández-Fernández, J.I.; Crespo-Villegas, O.; Garde-Cerdán, T. (2017). Elicitors used as a tool to increase stilbenes in grapes and wines. Food Res. Int., 98, 34–39

Ruiz-García, Y.; Gómez-Plaza, E. (2013)Elicitors: A tool for improving fruit phenolic content. Agriculture, 3, 33–52