Video clip from Enoforum Web Conference - Presentations by Ana Hranilovic and Antonio Castro Marin
Two research presentations, one from Australia and one from Italy, propose interesting and sustainable oenological solutions to combat the lack of acidity in wines and microbial threats.
SOIL AND WINEGRAPE QUALITY IN BIODYNAMICALLY AND ORGANICALLY MANAGED VINEYARDS
Jennifer R. Reeve1,*, L. Carpenter-Boggs1, John P. Reganold, Alan L. York, Glenn McGourty and Leo P. McCloskey
Wines produced from biodynamically grown grapes have received increasing attention. Similar to organic agriculture, biodynamics eliminates synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The primary difference between the two farming systems is that biodynamics uses a series of soil and plant amendments, called preparations, said to stimulate the soil and enhance plant health and quality of produce. Whether these preparations actually augment soil or winegrape quality is unclear and controversial. A long-term, replicated, 4.9-ha study was initiated in 1996 on a commercial Merlot vineyard near Ukiah, California, to investigate the effects of these biodynamic preparations on soil and winegrape quality. The study consisted of two treatments, biodynamic and organic (the control), each replicated four times in a randomized, complete block design. All management practices were the same in all plots, except for the addition of the preparations to the biodynamic treatment. No differences were found in soil quality in the first six years. Nutrient analyses of leaf tissue, clusters per vine, yield per vine, cluster weight, and berry weight showed no differences. Although average pruning weights for both treatments in 2001 to 2003 fell within the optimal range of 0.3 to 0.6 kg/m for producing high-quality winegrapes, ratios of yield to pruning weight were significantly different (p < 0.05) and indicated that the biodynamic treatment had ideal vine balance for producing high-quality winegrapes but that the control vines were slightly overcropped. Biodynamically treated winegrapes had significantly higher (p < 0.05) Brix and notably higher (p < 0.1) total phenols and total anthocyanins in 2003. Biodynamic preparations may affect winegrape canopy and chemistry but were not shown to affect the soil parameters or tissue nutrients measured in this study. We recommend that you consult the full text of this article, which was published in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 56: 367-376.
The seasonal character of harvests limits winemaking considerably, especially oenological research. Thus, conserving sterile musts during the whole year to carry out experiments is certainly a very...
Igor, BAROJA-CAREAGA, University of the Basque Country - Elena, GARCÍA DE LA PEÑA, Ardoatek - Dario, CANTU, University of California, Davis - And one, ESTONBA, University of the Basque Country - I...
Alexandra LOWREY, University of Auckland, New Zealand Bruno FEDRIZZI, University of Auckland Rebecca JELLEY, University of Auckland Stuart MORROW, University of Auckland
Parpinello, G.P., Ricci, A., Serantoni, M., Balducci, A., Ragni, L., Versari, A.; University of Bologna, Italy
Proteins occurring in wine originate from several sources during the winemaking process. Protein content in wines ranges from traces up to hundreds of mg/L, and may cause physical instability in wh...
Manuel Meneghetti, DSMN, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
The sun, the main natural resource of our planet, has been studied in recent years optimizing materials, technologies and processes to obtain electrical energy thanks to the best renewable and clea...
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