BackgroundDespite their importance as a reservoir of biodiversity, the factors shaping soil microbial communities and the extent by which these are impacted by cultivation are still poorly understood. Using 16S rRNA gene and ITS sequencing, we characterized the soil microbiota of vineyards and of neighboring permanent grassland soils in the Italian province of Trentino, and correlated their structure and composition to location, chemical properties of the soil, and land management.ResultsBacterial communities had a core of conserved taxa accounting for more than 60% of the reads of each sample, that was influenced both by geography and cultivation. The core fungal microbiota was much smaller and dominated by geography alone. Cultivation altered the structure and composition of the soil microbiota both for bacteria and fungi, with site-specific effects on their diversity. The diversity of bacterial and fungal communities was generally inversely correlated across locations. We identified several taxa that were impacted by the chemical properties and texture of the soil.ConclusionsOur results highlight the different responses of bacterial and fungal communities to environmental factors and highlight the need to characterize both components of the soil microbiota to fully understand the factors that drive their variability.

The microbiological richness and structure of soil are used as a sensitive indicator of soil quality. The extension of organic/biodynamic farming, associated with green manure application, could contribute to increase the abundance of functional groups of biological and agronomical relevance and maintaining microbial biodiversity in vineyard soils.

This theme is topical and of interest to winemakers and consumers today, but is not easy to study due to the difficulties in finding vineyards with homogeneous characteristics, cultivated using different agronomical protocols. The particular climatic conditions observed in 2014 made this year a rare model, making it possible to verify the applicability of biodynamics to vine growing. The strict experimental plan gave results particularly useful for understanding the features of grape microbiota in a biodynamic context.

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BACKGROUND Atypical ageing (ATA) is an aroma defect that occurs in white wines and entails a loss of varietal aromas as well as scents of wet mop, shoe polish and dish rag. 2‐Aminoacetophenone (2AAP) – a degradation product of indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA) – has been described as the main odour‐active compound and chemical marker responsible for this off‐flavour. A stress reaction in the vineyard triggered by climatic, pedological and viticultural factors can ultimately cause ATA development in wines and remarkably affect wine quality. The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of three grapevine management systems on the occurrence of ATA. The experiments were carried out on Pinot Blanc grape samples from vines cultivated using one conventional and two organic approaches. The management systems mainly differed for the fertilisation regime and the weed control. RESULTS The amino acid profiles as well as 2AAP and its precursors were quantified in musts and wines using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled to a high‐resolution mass spectrometer. The results showed the existence of a strong vintage effect, while no influence of the use of different agronomic systems was observed. CONCLUSION The study revealed that an efficient implementation of different grapevine production systems did not affect ATA development in Pinot Blanc wines. This finding is of great relevance for winegrowers and winemakers as it demonstrates that a well‐planned organic management system correctly adjusted to the climatic conditions does not pose a threat towards the development of ATA‐related compounds in wine. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.