In warm arid viticultural regions, excessive solar radiation and high temperatures during ripening increasingly compromise berry composition and wine quality. These effects are expected to intensify under climate warming. In hail-prone areas such as Mendoza, Argentina, anti-hail nets are widely adopted for crop protection and may also offer an opportunity for vineyard microclimate modulation. This study evaluated the effects of commercial anti-hail nets on canopy microclimate, yield, and wine composition in a Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Malbec' vineyard over three consecutive seasons. Three treatments were compared: an uncovered control (CO), a moderate symmetrical shading treatment using standard anti-hail nets providing 17% radiation exclusion on both canopy sides (M1), and an intensified asymmetrical configuration combining 17% shading on the east side with reinforced 50% shading on the west side (M2). Anti-hail nets significantly buffered the canopy microclimate by reducing leaf temperature and the accumulation of hours above 35 degrees C during peak thermal periods. Shading intensity was the main factor associated with observed vine responses. Moderate shading (M1) preserved yield stability while improving the sugar-acid balance and enhancing wine chromatic characteristics during the 2017 season. In contrast, intensified west-side shading (M2) promoted excessive vegetative vigor, increased the pruning weight-to-yield ratio, and reduced wine chromatic expression, indicating that excessive radiation attenuation may limit color-related ripening processes. Overall, moderate differential shading could potentially be an effective multifunctional strategy to mitigate thermal stress while preserving wine typicity in arid viticultural regions. Em regi & otilde;es vitivin & iacute;colas quentes e & aacute;ridas, a radia & ccedil;& atilde;o solar excessiva e as temperaturas elevadas durante a matura & ccedil;& atilde;o t & ecirc;m vindo a comprometer a composi & ccedil;& atilde;o das uvas e a qualidade dos vinhos no contexto das altera & ccedil;& otilde;es clim & aacute;ticas. Em zonas propensas & agrave; ocorr & ecirc;ncia de granizo, como Mendoza, Argentina, as redes antigranizo s & atilde;o amplamente utilizadas para prote & ccedil;& atilde;o da produ & ccedil;& atilde;o e podem igualmente contribuir para a modula & ccedil;& atilde;o do microclima da can & oacute;pia. O presente estudo avaliou os efeitos de redes antigranizo comerciais sobre o microclima da can & oacute;pia, o rendimento e a composi & ccedil;& atilde;o das uvas e dos vinhos numa vinha de Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Malbec' ao longo de tr & ecirc;s vindimas consecutivas. Foram comparados tr & ecirc;s tratamentos: um controlo sem cobertura (CO), um sombreamento sim & eacute;trico moderado com redes padr & atilde;o proporcionando 17% de exclus & atilde;o da radia & ccedil;& atilde;o em ambos os lados da can & oacute;pia (M1) e uma configura & ccedil;& atilde;o assim & eacute;trica intensificada, combinando 17% de sombreamento no lado leste com 50% no lado oeste (M2). As redes antigranizo atenuaram o microclima da can & oacute;pia, reduzindo a temperatura foliar e a acumula & ccedil;& atilde;o de horas acima de 35 degrees C durante os per & iacute;odos t & eacute;rmicos cr & iacute;ticos. A intensidade do sombreamento foi o principal fator associado & agrave;s respostas da videira. O sombreamento moderado (M1) manteve o rendimento e favoreceu um equil & iacute;brio mais adequado entre a & ccedil;& uacute;cares e acidez, bem como melhores caracter & iacute;sticas crom & aacute;ticas nos vinhos. Em contraste, o sombreamento intensificado no lado oeste (M2) promoveu maior vigor vegetativo, aumentou a raz & atilde;o peso da lenha de poda/rendimento e reduziu a express & atilde;o crom & aacute;tica dos vinhos. De modo geral, o sombreamento diferencial moderado mostrou potencial como estrat & eacute;gia multifuncional para mitigar o stress t & eacute;rmico sem comprometer a tipicidade dos vinhos em regi & otilde;es vitivin & iacute;colas & aacute;ridas.
Environmental contamination and biodiversity loss associated with the use of conventional phytosanitary products in crops has driven the search for sustainable alternatives. Ozone is a powerful disinfectant with proven applications in the agri-food chain. In recent years, water ozonation systems have been developed for agricultural sprayers, yet research on their effectiveness remains limited. This study evaluated the viability of ozonated water (OW) for grapevine disease control and its impact on plant microbiota. Six application strategies were tested in two vineyards of the ‘Albariño’ cultivar, assessing disease severity and microbial communities in leaf and berries. Disease incidence was generally low, except for downy mildew, which was prevalent. Consequently, the efficacy of OW was only assessed against this disease. While conventional treatments effectively controlled downy mildew, OW treatments failed, resulting in significant yield losses. Microbial analysis allowed to identify 400 fungal and 270 bacterial genera. Overall, plants treated with conventional products exhibited lower microbial abundance, highlighting the detrimental impact of chemical products on biodiversity. In conclusion, although OW is beneficial for the microbial communities compared to conventional products, it is not recommended for controlling downy mildew in regions with high disease pressure.
Wine appreciation is subject to trends, dependent on wine sensory properties. The wines characterized by high ethanol content, deep colour, and dominated by oak notes have given way to less alcoholic and leaner styles. Nevertheless, these changes are only supported by anecdotal evidence. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the differences in the most preferred wine styles. The scores of Grand Gold dry red and white wines were obtained from the online data of Mundus Vini challenge. The older period ranged from 2014 to 2016, while the most recent editions ranged from 2020 to 2023. The profile of red wines was synthesized in four sensory spaces, comprising Oakiness, Harshness, Freshness, and Funkiness. Overall, most preferred wines continued to have high ethanol content and high body, and were dominated by Oakiness. The main difference was related to the higher proportion of Funkiness in the wines from the more recent editions. A relatively small number of white wines were awarded Grand Gold in the latest editions. These wines were characterized by the sensory spaces of Freshness, Mellowed, Oakiness, and Funkiness. The main difference was related to the higher proportion of Oakiness in the more recent editions. Overall, the temporal analysis of Grand Gold wines did not show a significant variation in their style, continuing to be characterized by bold wines with high ethanol content, residual sugar and oak wood flavours.
Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) poses a significant phytopathological threat to global viticulture, demanding the development of rapid and accurate detection methodologies to mitigate economic losses. In this study, four deep learning-based object detection architectures were implemented and comparatively evaluated, ROBOFLOW 3.0 (Fast), YOLO-NAS (Accurate and Medium), YOLOv11 (Fast), and the latest YOLOv12 (Fast), for the automated identification of GFLV symptoms on grapevine leaves. A custom dataset comprising high-resolution images captured under diverse vineyard conditions was curated and meticulously annotated. YOLO models were trained on 100-350 epochs. Model performance was assessed using metrics such as Precision, Recall, Mean average precision at Intersection over Union (IoU)=0.5 (mAP@50), Mean average precision across IoU thresholds (mAP@50–95), and F1 score. Among the evaluated models, YOLOv11 Fast achieved the highest mAP@50 value (93.4%) and an F1 score of 88.3%. In comparison, ROBOFLOW 3.0 Fast reached a mAP@50 of 89.4% and an F1 score of 86%, YOLO-NAS Accurate achieved mAP 92.4% and F1 85.2%, and YOLO-NAS Medium obtained 91.9% and 85.3%, respectively. The latest version YOLOv12 Fast yielded mAP@50 91.3% and F1 86.5%. These results highlight the potential of next-generation YOLO architectures for high-throughput, real-time GFLV detection, offering a scalable and efficient solution for precision viticulture and integrated disease management.
Moscatel de Setúbal is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wine produced in Península de Setúbal wine region, being one of the four Portuguese fortified wines recognized as “Generosos”. This wine has unique chemical and sensory characteristics due to the grape variety (‘Moscatel de Setúbal’, Vitis vinifera L.) used in its production, the winemaking process characterised by a long period of maceration of skins and grape berry seeds, and the oxidative ageing. According to the legislation, it must be submitted to a minimum ageing period, traditionally performed in wooden barrels, which plays a crucial role in the increase of its sensory quality. Although highly appreciated and recognized by its quality, scientific knowledge on this wine is still very scarce and limited to the general physicochemical and phenolic composition. This literature review aims to gather the available information about this fortified wine, providing a better understanding on the distinctive profile of Moscatel de Setúbal, and to lay out paths for future. It must be noted that Moscatel de Setúbal Roxo wine made with this grape variety also shares the PDO, but because of its rarity and small produced quantities it is not addressed in this work.
