Aroma precursors of Grignolino grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) and their modulation by vintage in a climate change scenario

Andriani Asproudi; Federica Bonello; Vasiliki Ragkousi; Silvia Gianotti; Maurizio Petrozziello

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1179111

Aroma precursors of Grignolino grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) and their modulation by vintage in a climate change scenario

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Aug 4:14:1179111. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1179111. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Andriani Asproudi¹, Federica Bonello¹, Vasiliki Ragkousi¹, Silvia Gianotti^{2

3}, Maurizio Petrozziello¹

Affiliations

¹ Research centre for Viticulture and Enology, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Asti, Italy.
² Associazione Monferace, Alessandria, Italy.
³ Wine Consulting Mario Ronco, Asti, Italy.

Abstract

Current climatic conditions may cause significant changes in grapevine phenology and maturity dynamics linked often with changes to ecoclimatic indicators. The influence exerted by different meteorological conditions during four consecutive years on the aromatic potential of Grignolino grapes was investigated for the first time. The samples were collected from three vineyards characterized by different microclimatic conditions mainly related to the vineyard exposure and by a different age of the plants. Important differences as far as temperature and rainfall patterns are concerned during ripening were observed among the 4 years. Grape responses to abiotic stress, with particular emphasis on aromatic precursors, were evaluated using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The results highlighted significant differences among the vintages for each vineyard in terms of the berry weight and the aromatic precursor concentration. For the grapes of the younger-vine vineyard, the content of aroma compounds showed a different variability among the vintages if compared to the old-vine vineyards. Optimal conditions in terms of temperature and rainfall during the green phase followed by a warm and dry post-veraison period until harvest favored all classes of compounds especially terpenoids mainly in the grapes of the old vines. High-temperature (>30°C) and low-rainfall pattern before veraison led to high benzenoid contents and increased differences among vineyards such as berry weight, whereas cooler conditions favored the terpenoid levels in grapes from southeast-oriented vineyards. In a hilly environment, lack of rainfall and high temperature that lately characterize the second part of berry development seem to favor the grape quality of Grignolino, a cultivar of medium-late ripening, by limiting the differences on bunch ripening, allowing a greater accumulation of secondary metabolites but maintaining at the same time an optimum balance sugar/acidity.

Keywords: Benzenoids; C13-norisoprenoids; Grignolino; Hilly viticulture; Terpenoids; old vineyards; seasonal stress conditions.

Grants and funding

The “SESAMO” project, which forms the basis of this article, was funded by the Fondazione CRT – Cassa di Risparmio di Torino (RF = 2019.2337) and carried out by the CREA Research Centre for Viticulture and Enology between 2019 and 2022.