This study aimed to discriminate red wines obtained from organic and biodynamic management by means of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) and metabonomic investigation. Red wines were produced from Sangiovese grapes over the three harvests 2010-2012 from two parcels of a vineyard, managed according to organic (ORG) or biodynamic (BIO) protocol, respectively. Every year the vinifications ...

Vineyards harbour a wide variety of microorganisms that play a pivotal role in pre- and post-harvest grape quality and will contribute significantly to the final aromatic properties of wine. The aim of the current study was to investigate the spatial distribution of microbial communities within and between individual vineyard management units. For the first time in such a study, we applied the ...

Accurate yield estimates are of great value to vineyard growers to make informed management decisions such as crop thinning, shoot thinning, irrigation and nutrient delivery, preparing for harvest and planning for market. Current methods are labor intensive because they involve destructive hand sampling and are practically too sparse to capture spatial variability in large vineyard blocks. Here...

In recent literature, very few studies have reported the use of the combination of indicators from ecological communities and ecotoxicity biomarkers in field experiments to assess agricultural quality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the influence of three soil management practices of vine inter-rows (chemical weeding, mechanical weeding and grass-covering) on earthworms, in t...

The growth form of a vine profoundly influences its overall performance as well as many aspects of a grower's vine management. Therefore, I place the choice of a vine training system fourth in importance when establishing a new vineyard after: (1) whether or not to plant a vineyard, (2) the site for the vineyard, and (3) the variety/rootstock combination to be planted. The increasing recognitio...

The grape berry moth, Paralobesia viteana (Clemens), is a key pest of vineyards in eastern North America that overwinters as pupae in leaf litter on the vineyard floor. This presents an opportunity for tillage to disturb and bury the pupae, providing a potential nonchemical approach to control of this pest. Using a Lilleston-style rotary cultivator, we determined the distribution of pupae withi...

Vine vigour involves the production capacity of the vine. Production capacity encompasses shoot and leaf production, as well as grape production. It would benefit grape production systems to find the correct balance between the vegetative growth (shoot and leaf “production”) and reproductive development (grape production). One could optimise vine performance by improving vine balance. Vine bala...

A 3-yr field study was conducted at commercial grape farms to evaluate cutting wild grapevines as a cultural control strategy for grape berry moth, Paralobesia viteana (Clemens). At each farm, wild grapevines were cut in the woods adjacent to one vineyard for control of P. viteana, whereas the comparison vineyard received no such cutting. Both vineyards received a standard broad-spectrum insect...

Grapevine phenology observations are essential for ecological adaptability of grape varieties, crop management and crop modelling. Phenological events have traditionally been ground based, with observations mainly providing information concerning grape varieties over a limited spatial area and few inseason observations. Time-series of satellite imagery can rapidly provide a synoptic and objecti...