Oenology and Viticulture
Summary
Oenology and viticulture encompass the science and practice of grape cultivation, wine production and the study of factors that determine wine quality—from soil, climate and plant physiology to cellar techniques and ageing. Modern viticulture optimises canopy management, pest and disease controls, water use and grape chemistry, while oenology integrates microbiology, analytical chemistry and engineering to transform must into stable, expressive wines. Current research spans irreducible aspects such as plant–microbe interactions in the vineyard, non-invasive phenotyping of wood integrity, fungal wood‐decay dynamics and advanced imaging, as well as broader issues from climate resilience to consumer‐driven innovations in sustainable production and product diversification.
Research from Nature Portfolio
New multimodal 3D imaging performed on living grapevines combines MRI and X-ray CT with machine‐learning–based voxel classification to non‐invasively distinguish intact, degraded and rotted wood in trunks with over 91% global accuracy. This workflow paves the way for precision in situ diagnostics of trunk disease, linking internal wood condition to external foliar symptoms and enabling data‐driven vineyard management.
Studies of grapevine white‐rot decomposition reveal that basidiomycete fungi preferentially degrade lignin and hemicellulose over cellulose. Co-inoculation with cellulolytic Paenibacillus strains enhances wood breakdown by Fomitiporia mediterranea, with genome analyses identifying bacterial and fungal genes for cell‐wall–degrading enzymes and interkingdom interactions. These insights clarify pathogen–microbial synergisms in Esca disease and inform biocontrol strategies.
Oenology and Viticulture publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in oenology and viticulture across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF): Soil‐borne symbionts that colonise plant roots, enhancing nutrient uptake and stress tolerance in grapevines.
Voxel classification: The assignment of each volumetric pixel in 3D MRI/CT data to tissue categories (intact, degraded, rotted) using machine‐learning algorithms.
White rot: A form of wood decay in grapevine trunks caused by basidiomycete fungi, characterised by lignin and hemicellulose breakdown.
Pruning‐wound susceptibility: The temporal period following pruning during which grapevine wounds remain prone to fungal infection and colonisation.
References
- End-to-end multimodal 3D imaging and machine learning workflow for non-destructive phenotyping of grapevine trunk internal structure. Scientific Reports (2024).
- Two Paenibacillus spp. strains promote grapevine wood degradation by the fungus Fomitiporia mediterranea: from degradation experiments to genome analyses. Scientific Reports (2024).
- Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis on grapevine response to Neofusicoccum parvum, a major trunk disease fungus. Plant Stress (2024).
- Susceptibility of pruning wounds to grapevine trunk diseases: A quantitative analysis of literature data. Frontiers in Plant Science (2023).
- Insights into Grape Ripe Rot: A Focus on the Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Species Complex and Its Management Strategies. Plants (2023).
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