Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Less alcoholic red wines, IRVO's work at CONAVI

“Topping: a cultivation technique suitable for reducing sugar accumulation in grapes”. This was the theme presented by the Regional Institute of Wine and Oil in Pisa as part of the VI National Viticulture Conference (CONAVI), which took place this year in Pisa from 4 to 7 July.

Organized every two years by the "Viticulture" working group of the Italian Horticultural Society (SOI), CONAVI is a meeting and discussion point for those who work in viticulture in Italy in the sectors of research, innovation transfer and teaching.

The work presented by IRVO was supervised by the Viticultural and Oenological Research Unit of the institution coordinated by the agronomist manager Antonio Sparacio. “The work – explains Sparacio himself – carried out in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences of the University of Palermo, has highlighted how the trimming of the black berry vine vegetation, carried out in a late period, allows us to “contain” the sugars of the grapes at levels suitable for obtaining less alcoholic wines without compromising their polyphenolic content".

An important contribution reported in the proceedings of the conference which was divided into several sessions, including: Viticultural biodiversity and oenological/agronomic microorganisms; Vineyard management techniques in relation to climate change; Sustainability and defense; Precision viticulture; Biotic adversities, integrated, organic and biodynamic viticulture; Agro-ecosystem and cultivation technique; Biology, physiology, metabolomics and genetics; Genetic resources and nursery. IRVO's work was included in the Agro-ecosystem and Cultivation Technique session. For further information you can visit the following site: http://conavi2016.agr.unipi.it/