Despite extensive research on phenolic metabolism in grapevines, the effects of canopy management practices on the phenolic composition of woody canopy tissues remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates the impact of severe canopy management through crop forcing (CF) on the metabolic profile of grapevine canes cv. ‘Touriga Nacional’, building on previous evidence that CF alters the vine physiology. A targeted UPLC-MS analysis was used to identify treatment effects on 54 metabolites, including phenolic acids, stilbenoids, flavonols, and flavan-3-ols. PCA and OPLS-DA showed that woody canes from CF vines have distinct metabolic profiles, with stilbenoids increasing consistently. Notably, there was an increase of E-resveratrol (7-fold), E-piceatannol (7-fold), and E-ε-viniferin (7-fold), compounds that are recognised to play crucial roles in boosting the plant’s defence mechanisms. On the other hand, flavan-3-ols like procyanidin B1 showed a consistent decrease in both vintages by up to 24 %. These findings suggest that CF promotes the accumulation of stilbenes and the reduction of flavonols and flavan-3-ols in grapevine canes.

Climate changes are speeding up the maturation of grapes in numerous areas of the world, including in the Mediterranean basin, but warmer temperatures often uncouple technical and phenolic maturity, resulting in unbalanced wines. We tested the efficacy of crop forcing (CF) in delaying the maturation of cv. ‘Touriga Nacional’ vines of the Douro Region, and their impacts on plant performance, berry quality attributes and metabolome were also evaluated. In two consecutive seasons (2019 and 2020), CF was conducted 15 (CF1) and 30 (CF2) days after fruit set by hedging growing shoots to five nodes and removing summer laterals, leaves and clusters. Results showed that while CF2 delayed ripening up to 51 days till first autumn rainfall, which compromised optimal sugar ripeness, CF1 delayed the technical maturation by one month, but both treatments severely impacted the production, mainly CF1, which reduced grapevine yield up to 90 %. The effect of CF in protecting vines against drought stress was not evident, judging by the values of leaf pre-dawn water potential measured along both seasons. CF1 and CF2 resulted in berries with lower pH and higher titratable acidity than controls, while total phenolics content increased by up to 48 % in 2020. A UPLC–MS-based targeted metabolomic analysis showed that CF increased the relative abundance of key metabolites like flavan-3-ols (i.e., catechin gallate increased by up to 661 %), trihydroxylated anthocyanins (i.e., delphinidin-3-O-glucoside increased by up to 656 % after CF2) and stilbenes (resveratrol increased by up to 700 % after CF2) with potential positive impacts in wine quality.

In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to link phenology models with seasonal climate predictions in so-called Decision Support Systems (DSS) to tailor crop management strategies. However, temporal discrepancies between phenology models with temperature data gathered on a daily basis and seasonal forecasting systems providing predictability on monthly scales have limited their use. In this work, we present a novel methodology to use monthly average temperature data in phenology models. Briefly stated, we modelled the timing of the appearance of specific grapevine phenological phases using monthly average temperatures. To do so, we computed the cumulative thermal time (Sf ) and the number of effective days per month (effd). The effd is the number of days in a month on which temperatures would be above the minimum value for development (Tb). The calculation of effd is obtained from a normal probability distribution function derived from historical weather records. We tested the methodology on four experimental plots located in different European countries with contrasting weather conditions and for four different grapevine cultivars. The root mean square deviation (RMSD) ranged from 4 to 7 days for all the phenological phases considered, at all the different sites, and for all the cultivars. Furthermore, the bias of observed vs predicted comparisons was not significantly different when using either monthly mean or daily temperature values to model phenology. This new methodology, therefore, provides an easy and robust way to incorporate monthly temperature data into grapevine phenology models.

The introduction of irrigation in vineyards of the Mediterranean basin is a matter of debate, in particular in those of the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR), due to the limited number of available studies. Here, we aimed to perform a robust analysis in three consecutive vintages (2018, 2019, and 2020) on the impact of deficit irrigation on the yield, berry quality traits, and metabolome of cv. ‘Touriga Nacional’. Results showed that in the peaks of extreme drought, irrigation at 30% crop evapotranspiration (ETc) (R30) was able to prevent a decay of up to 0.4 MPa of leaf predawn water potential (ΨPd), but irrigation at 70% ETc (R70) did not translate into additional protection against drought stress. Following three seasons of irrigation, the yield was significantly improved in vines irrigated at R30, whereas irrigation at R70 positively affected the yield only in the 2020 season. Berry quality traits at harvest were not significantly changed by irrigation, except for Total Soluble Solids (TSS) in 2018. A UPLC–MS-based targeted metabolomic analysis identified eight classes of compounds, amino acids, phenolic acids, stilbenoid DP1, stilbenoid DP2, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, di-OH- and tri-OH anthocyanins, and showed that anthocyanins and phenolic acids did not change significantly with irrigation. The present study showed that deficit irrigation partially mitigated the severe summer water deficit conditions in the DDR but did not significantly change key metabolites.

Under a climate change scenario, vineyards will experience serious challenges in the future. In an attempt to overcome such difficulties, this experiment offers a study on the effect of regulated deficit irrigation as a method for short-term adaptation to climate change in cv. Touriga Francesa, grafted into the rootstock 110R in the Douro region during a three-year period. Water stress on the plant and its effects on canopy, production, and quality of musts were analyzed. Rainfed vines (R0) were compared to three deficit irrigation regimes as a function of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc): R25 (25% ETc), R50 (50% ETc), and R75 (75% ETc). Water was applied on a weekly basis whenever predawn water potential showed moderate water stress until 15 days prior to harvest. The results suggest that rainfed plants under these circumstances suffered, in general, a negative impact on vine performance, while moderate water stress had more favorable effects on fruit composition, as well as in yield. Nonetheless, further studies should be conducted as irrigation did not show consistent effects on yield or berry composition.

Grapevines are extremely sensitive to climate, and changing climatic conditions can significantly threaten the production of many traditional regions. VISCA “Vineyards´ Integrated Smart Climate Application” is an ongoing project cofunded under the Horizon 2020 programme, aimed to integrate weather forecasts at different scales with phenological predictions and irrigation recommendations into a Decision Support System to help growers to tackle the challenges arising from increasing adverse climatic conditions. Here we present LEAF, one of the simulation models developed within the project to predict the vegetative performance of the vineyards and the dynamics of fruit maturation.

The lack of graft success is a problem that causes economic loss to nursery growers and wine growers, especially because it is often expressed when the vineyard is already established. Grafting is a complex phenomenon, involving anatomical, physiological, biochemical and molecular interactions between the scion and the rootstock. For this reason, the lack of graft success is a complex problem to study. However, it is believed that through a joint analysis of the different mechanisms of graft success, one can advance more quickly in the knowledge of this phenomenon. Despite the scarce information available on the role of phenolic compounds in Vitis grafts, an analytical method was developed and validated for phenolic compounds quantification in vine graft tissues reviling some chemical markers for the cv. 'Syrah' with 11OR and SO4 rootstocks. This work aims to determine, among phenolic acids and two flavanols, the chemical markers of graft compatibility between scions from two clones of cv. 'Touriga Nacional' (TN 21 and TN 112) and the rootstock 110R. For this purpose, extracts of grafting tissues were prepared at three different locations (above, below and at the grafting union), and were analyzed in three different stages of the grafting cycle. From all sections analyzed, the graft union tissue is the one to discriminate better the two combinations. Gallic acid, catechin and sinapic acid were found in higher amount at graft union in the less compatible combination later in graft development. Furthermore, the chlorogenic acid had a higher content in the more compatible combination at the early stage when compared to the less compatible graft.

Datasets related to the trials performed during 2018 and 2019 in Douro Superior sub-region on 'Touriga Nacional’ grape, at Quinta do Ataide on Tou, in the course of the VISCA project. This data was used to the prepare the article with the DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3568194 (Forcing vine regrowth in vitis vinifera cv. touriga nacional at Douro region). For each year (2018 and 2019), it includes data on : fertility; harvested quantity; Maturation; ProDrawn leaf water potential quantity. The same data was also used for the article "EFEITO DA INTERVENÇÃO EM VERDE CROP FROCING NA CASTA TOURIGA NACIONAL", DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3686023 These datasets are provided as part of the open access policy of VISCA project which is participating to the Open Research Data Pilot (ORDP) initiated in H2020, in particular for data used in scientific publications issued during the lifetime of the project.

The Douro Region is characterized by a typically Mediterranean climate, with extreme temperatures and irregular rainfall throughout the year. This experimental trial was carried out on a vineyard plot of Touriga Franca, grafted in 110R, at Quinta da Cabreira, property of Quinta do Crasto, S.A., located in the Douro Region. Four irrigation modalities were established, in three blocks, according to the percentage of cultural evapotranspiration (ETc): R0, the control, without irrigation; R25, irrigated with 25% ETc; R50, with 50% ETc and R75, with 75% ETc. Irrigation had repercussions on total leaf area, with statistically significant lower value for R0 and greater for R75. Concerning the ecophysiological parameters, the water leaf potential was lower in R0 than at R50 and R75. On the yield components, it was observed a higher number of clusters in R75 and a smaller quantity in R0 and the bunch weight was also affected by the amount of water provided, with the R50 or R75 having a higher value. Even if the berry weight has not presented differences, those factors affect yield, that was higher in the R50 and R75. Concerning the quality, no significant differences had been found on the various components tested.

Grape pomace can be regarded as an excellent and affordable source of polyphenolic compounds. Hence, the main objective of this work was to conduct a comparative study of different Portuguese grape varieties, using an extraction methodology with possible applications in sustainable agriculture and pest management. Scavenging capacity against DPPH, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), iron(II) chelating ability (ICA) and Folin–Ciocalteu assays were performed in order to evaluate the antioxidant capacity profile and total phenolic content (TPC) in ethanol/water extracts and aqueous grape pomace suspensions. Strong significant correlation between TPC and DPPH (R=0.944), and a low correlation between ORAC and the other assays was obtained (R≤0.632). ICA was not correlated with any of the other assays (R≤0.263). All grape pomace extracts have presented high antioxidant properties (ORAC) and chelating ability, ranging from 906 to 2337μmol TEg−1 residue and from 55 to 104 % inhib. mg−1 residue, respectively. Results from HPLC analysis showed the presence of gallic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, (+)-catechin and (−)-epicatechin being syringic acid and (+)-catechin the major compounds. Although further studies are required, “Touriga Nacional” was the most promising grape cultivar regarding its highest values for TPC (142.4±1.1mg GAEg−1 dry residue), DPPH (1.12±0.04 mmol TEg−1 dry residue) and ORAC (1579±244μmol TEg−1 dry residue) assays. Since Portugal is a major wine producer, utilization of pomace generated during the wine elaboration steps opens a new trend toward a simple and relatively easy compounds extraction with high antioxidant activity in order to contribute to emerging industrial applications and sustainable agriculture.

The Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) is an alternative tool for the evaluation of nutritional status and fertilizer recommendation of several crops. However, as this methodology implies the establishment of norms or standards, without which one cannot infer about the nutritional status of a crop, in Portugal this tool has little application. The aim of this study was to establish preliminary DRIS norms for vineyards in Portugal. From 2007 to 2009, petiole samples were collected on a set of 199 selected plots. The DRIS norms were established according to the proposed by Beaufils (1973), based on the results of the laboratory procedures. The results suggest the need for further studies in order to validate the DRIS norms presented. In the future it will be important to increase the number of observations for the establishment of DRIS norms, as well as to determine the relevance of establishing specific nutritional standard according the edaphic, climatic and varietal variability of Portuguese wine regions.

Aim: To test the hypothesis that shading of the fruiting zone of the plants might reduce yield losses caused by excessive exposure to sun while avoiding the most damaging effects associated with reduced radiation.Methods and results: A number of grapevine rows were shaded with a double layered white plastic netting on their south-facing side, from the ground to about 20 cm above the cluster zone. Data on meteorological conditions, plant growth, plant water availability, yield components and must characteristics were recorded during three growing seasons. Shading significantly increased yield but did not alter significantly the must characteristics.Conclusion : Partial shading of the grapevine canopy reduced yield losses attributable to excessive radiation. The must obtained from shaded berries had a lower concentration of anthocyanins, and the wines made from these musts had a lighter colour which may be detrimental to their quality.Significance and impact of the study: The study highlights the effects of solar radiation on the composition of grape musts and suggests a potentially cost-effective method to control excessive radiation in vineyards.

This study focuses on the activity of wine against the important food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. The kinetics of inactivation of two strains of C. jejuni (one food-borne and one clinical) were characterised in various scenarios of exposure to wine and wine components. Undiluted wine was found to rapidly inactivate C. jejuni (>6D inactivation within 30s); further inactivation data were obtained from experiments performed in wine diluted with water (1:2 and 1:4). Experiments with isolated antimicrobial fractions of wine (ethanol and certain organic acids) suggest that these two components act synergistically, demonstrating an inactivation capacity similar to wine itself. The results indicate that the exposure of contaminated food to wine, as in marinade conditions, significantly reduces the number of viable cells of C. jejuni. A model stomach, containing a food matrix and a synthetic gastric fluid, was used to infer the effect of wine against C. jejuni in a consumption-like scenario. Wine was found to potentiate the anti-Campylobacter effect of gastric fluid. The results strongly suggest that the ingestion of wine during a meal may greatly diminish the quantity of C. jejuni persisting further in the alimentary tract, thus lowering the risk of infection.