Abstract
In Southeast Brazil, the change of grape harvest from wet summer to dry winter through double-pruning management has improved the quality of wines, currently denominated winter wines. In order to better understand the influences of soil, macroclimate, and vineyard management in winter wines, we investigated seven vineyards in the states of Minas Gerais (Três Corações – TC, Três Pontas – TP, Cordislândia – COR, São Sebastião do Paraíso – SSP and Andradas – AND) and São Paulo (Itobi – ITO and Espirito Santo do Pinhal – PIN) during three consecutive growing seasons. The vineyards are located in warm temperate zones and grouped in four soil types: Acrudox in TC, AND and SSP, Hapludox in TP; Hapludult in AND and PIN; Eutrudept in ITO. The high clay content (> 35 %) observed in all soil types, associated to low evapotranspiration demand, avoided the occurrence of severe water stress, as observed by the high values of leaf and stem water potential, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and transpiration. Differences in vigor were more related to vineyard management and did not affect grape composition. Among vineyards, parameters for berry quality from ITO, such as sugar and acidity, were more associated to high soil sand content and winter temperature. No significant differences were found in anthocyanins and total phenols of berries among vineyards, suggesting that the high thermal range and low precipitation during autumn-winter, historically observed in all municipalities, seemed to be the main factor for improvement of phenolic compounds.
Highlights
In Southeast Brazil, wine grapes are harvested during the summer (Dec – Jan), a period of heavy precipitation, which increases cluster rot incidence and impairs berry ripening
In order to better understand the influences of soil, macroclimate, and vineyard management in winter wines, we investigated seven vineyards in the states of Minas Gerais (Três Corações – TC, Três Pontas – TP, Cordislândia – COR, São Sebastião do Paraíso – SSP and Andradas – AND) and São Paulo (Itobi – ITO and Espirito Santo do Pinhal – PIN) during three consecutive growing seasons
The viticultural zones were divided into two groups based on mean temperature during the hottest months of the year: Warm > 22 oC at TC, TP, COR, AND and ITO; Mild < 22 oC at SSP and PIN
Summary
In Southeast Brazil, wine grapes are harvested during the summer (Dec – Jan), a period of heavy precipitation, which increases cluster rot incidence and impairs berry ripening. Studies have reported that the low rainfall and high thermal range of the autumn-winter season are favorable to sugar accumulation and synthesis of phenolic compounds in berries from grapevines grown under warm temperate and tropical conditions in southeastern Brazil (Favero et al, 2011; Mota et al, 2011a,b; Regina et al, 2011) In this region, the wine elaborated with grape harvested during the winter is called “winter wine” and awards in several national and international competitions have recognized its quality
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