Effect of delaying winter pruning of Bobal and Tempranillo grapevines on vine performance, grape and wine composition

Abstract

Background and Aims: Climate change is advancing grapevine phenology, decoupling berry technological and phenolic maturity. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of late winter pruning for delaying grape ripening. Methods and Results: In two Bobal and Tempranillo vineyards located in eastern Spain, vines pruned at dormancy were compared with a delayed winter pruning (late pruning) carried out just before the basal buds burst (BBCH 05). In both cultivars, late pruning delayed grape ripening, resulting in grapes with higher anthocyanin concentration for similar TSS at harvest. In general, the resulting wines had a higher colour intensity and lower hue angle. These effects were more noticeable in Tempranillo, an earlier ripening cultivar, than in Bobal. Despite late pruning improving vine water status, the yield was steadily reduced by 10%. Conclusions: Late pruning is a useful strategy for delaying grape ripening, thus adapting grapevine production to climate change. The small detrimental effects on yield and compression of pruning dates within a few days may limit the application of this practice. Significance of the Study: Delaying winter pruning can be used to improve grape and wine composition when facing changes in the meteorological conditions experienced during berry ripening.

Unraveling the Physiological Mechanisms Underlying the Intracultivar Variability of Water Use Efficiency in Vitis vinifera “Grenache”

“…Moreover, “Tempranillo” is an early ripening cultivar, while “Grenache” ripens late. This may be an important factor in the adaptation of viticulture to global warming in favor of late-ripening cultivars such as “Grenache” [ 29 ].…”

Impacts of seasonality on the phenology of three grapevine cultivars in the semi-arid climate

“…Recent studies have shown that the growing season can delay phenological maturity, and affect yield components, crop coe cients, and total evapotranspiration in Vitis vinifera L. cv. 'Malbec' (Ferrara et al, 2022;Morgani et al, 2022), 'Merlot' (Allegro et al, 2020), 'Bobal' and 'Tempranillo' (Buesa et al, 2020), and Pinot Noir (Frioni et al, 2019). In contrast, Falginella et al (2022) reported that yield and qualitative parameters are not affected by different growing seasons in hot climate regions.…”

“…The cultivation of vines in new regions exposes the plants to edaphoclimatic conditions that have not yet been studied, which can cause changes in their phenology (Falginella et al, 2022;Morgani et al, 2022), and photosynthetic capacity (Ren et al, 2022), re ecting growth (Vuerich et al, 2021), yield (Gambetta et al, 2020), and fruit quality (Buesa et al, 2020;Perez-Navarro et al, 2021). Therefore, analyzing the logical behavior in different growing seasons is critical for enhancing production in new areas.…”

Effect of early cane pruning on yield components, grape composition, carbohydrates storage and phenology in <i>Vitis vinifera</i> L. cv. Merlot

“…In this regard, the incidence of late winter pruning in different environments, cultivars and training systems has been extensively studied: in cool-climate growing districts, this practice proved helpful in postponing budbreak, escaping late frost events, and increasing the yield (Howell and Wolpert, 1978;Friend and Trought, 2007;Friend et al, 2011). Since the postponement of the winter pruning until after budburst was shown to shift vine phenology, in warmer areas this technique was also effective in mitigating the consequences of warming due to climate change by delaying ripening and spreading grape maturity (Frioni et al, 2016;Gatti et al, 2016;Palliotti et al, 2017;Petrie et al, 2017;Moran et al, 2017;Zheng et al, 2017;Moran et al, 2018;Gatti et al, 2018;Silvestroni et al, 2018;Frioni et al, 2019;Allegro et al, 2020;Buesa et al, 2021). By contrast, the vine response to early pruning was investigated to a much lesser extent.…”