Uva da tavola ipocalorica, possibilità di coltivazione e nuove prospettive di mercato

According to the CODEX STAN 255 (2007), table grapes can be harvested when the refractometric index reaches at least 16° Brix. Grapes with a lower refractometric index are accepted provided the sugar/acid ratio (Total Soluble Solids/Tritatable Acidity – TSS/TA) is at least equal to 20:1 if the Brix level is comprised between 12.5° and 14° Brix, 18:1 if the Brix level is comprised between 14° and 16° Brix. Some table grapes grown in Mediterranean climate can accumulate TSS higher than 16° Brix, with low levels of acidity, thus leading to a TSS/AT ratio even greater than 30: 1. Grapes that accumulate TSS less than 12.5° Brix and low TA levels, hardly reach the recommended ratio TSS/TA of 20:1, rather stopping at lower values. Based on these considerations in 2012 an experimental trial of four years started on a total of 103 table grape cvs. Phenological phases in relation to the acidic and sugar content were measured in order to assess the TSS/TA ratio and build regression lines with TSS. Almost all cvs. showed a significant linear regression, with R2 values higher than 0.80 and a standard error between 00.18 and 1.74. TSS values of 103 cvs. at TSS/TA ratio of 20:1, predicted by means of linear regression equations, , were subjected to cluster analysis based on Euclidean Distance. We identified nine clusters, of which the first two with the predicted TSS between 10.04° and 11.77° Brix (7 cvs.) and 12.08° and 12.62° Brix (7 cvs.), respectively. Some of the cvs. showing TSS values below 12.5° Brix at the TSS/TA of 20: 1, were subjected to a test panel of 24 tasters, who were asked to indicate the acceptability of these grapes on hedonic scale of 9 points. Preliminary results showed that for some table grapes with TSS below 12.5° Brix, a SST/AT ratio lower than the recommended 20:1 can be proposed, while preserving an acceptability by the consumer. These results suggest a more modern perspective on grapes nutritional intake, which takes into account the real needs of Western countries where diabetes, hyperglycemia, obesity and cardiovascular diseases are the main dismetabolisms arising from a diet too rich in calories. These grapes thus represent a new frontier and an opportunity for producers of table grapes, who want to enterprise a market share on “grape diet”, and represent a genetic basis for breeding aimed at obtaining new hypocaloric grape cultivars

Lucania as the heart of III vine domestication center: The rediscovery of autochthonous vines / Lucania fulcro del III Centro di domesticazione della vite: La riscoperta dei vitigni autoctoni

In Basilicata, where it sees a vineyard dominated by mountains and not far from the ruins of the Roman city and Early Medieval Grumentum (Val d'Agri PZ), it's obvious to think of its existence at all times. The landscape scenery stimulates the visitor to sense an ancient feeling underlined by producers wisdom with the winemaking art documented for centuries. Genetic and historical-archaeological research confirm it by carving a real substratum of autochthonous varieties in a context, the Enotria, which is now better understood also in the material culture. When talking about Enotria and conventionally we think an indefinite wine land, which later became Italia, it is easy to slip into the rhetoric. The situation has changed. The Enotria, land recognizable to the Greeks through the vineyards planted with the support of poles (oinòtra), is becoming a reality perceptible and tangible thanks to a research done not only in the laboratory but also in the historical archives and especially in field. The grapevine germplasm research in Basilicata, financed by Region and local authorities, developed by CREA-UTV and CNR-IBAM, exploring the areas of Val d'Agri, Pollino, Matera, Vulture and High Basento and enhanced by an anthropological study, is bringing to public attention varieties so far only imagined in the abundance of grape names which tradition has bequeathed. About the 154 varieties spread in the Lucan towns surveyed in “Statistics of the Naples Kingdom” disposed by G. Murat in 1811, about the 63 wine varieties and 29 to dual purpose (wine and table), cataloged in Ampelographic Bulletins of the Ministry of Agriculture of 1881, or about the 30 vines from which it has been produced wines presented at the first wine exhibition of 1887 which was held in Potenza, mostly have unfortunately gone missing along with the memory of those who died or emigrated elsewhere abandoning the vines. In archives, remain some ephemeral relationships of those who, like Frojo and Lacava, were worried about record at least the presence, leaving to posterity further details. From the field, exploring old vines or identifying ancient solitary stocks and making use of the historical memory of winegrowers, authentic custodians of biodiversity and of oral tradition for names and ampelographic characters, we have collected 561 accessions. The DNA study has then unraveled varietal confusion detecting synonymous and homonymies, restoring confidence in the effective recognition of the varieties spread in the region. About the accessions analyzed, 421, corresponding to 68 distinct varieties, are included in the National Register; while 140 (17 of which related to foreign varieties) have vernacular names that, in the failure to meet the registered varieties, represent the precious first signal of great vivacity of these territories, where the evolution in cultivation and selection of best grapes has never stopped, together with a deep understanding of grape physiology. Aglianico bianco, Giosana, Iusana, Santa Sofia, as white grapes, and Aglianico delle fosse, Brindisino, Cassano, Colatamurro, as black grapes, are just some of the new autochthonous varieties we recovered, which – when multiplied and authorized for cultivation – could give more recognizability to the terroir, qualitatively expanding the production base towards typicality and naturalness. The explored territories, entered in a wide geographical and cultural area, are the heart within the Enotria core before, and the historical Lucania then, in the III Domestication Centre (Central and Southern Italy and Sicily), which the vine traversed during the third stage from East (Caucasus) to the West, started from the end of the last Ice Age. The vine and the wine tell the story of a territory, becoming themselves cultural heritage, that is authentic cultural markers

Lucania as the heart of III vine domestication center: The rediscovery of autochthonous vines / Lucania fulcro del III Centro di domesticazione della vite: La riscoperta dei vitigni autoctoni

In Basilicata, where it sees a vineyard dominated by mountains and not far from the ruins of the Roman city and Early Medieval Grumentum (Val d'Agri PZ), it's obvious to think of its existence at all times. The landscape scenery stimulates the visitor to sense an ancient feeling underlined by producers wisdom with the winemaking art documented for centuries. Genetic and historical-archaeological research confirm it by carving a real substratum of autochthonous varieties in a context, the Enotria, which is now better understood also in the material culture. When talking about Enotria and conventionally we think an indefinite wine land, which later became Italia, it is easy to slip into the rhetoric. The situation has changed. The Enotria, land recognizable to the Greeks through the vineyards planted with the support of poles (oinòtra), is becoming a reality perceptible and tangible thanks to a research done not only in the laboratory but also in the historical archives and especially in field. The grapevine germplasm research in Basilicata, financed by Region and local authorities, developed by CREA-UTV and CNR-IBAM, exploring the areas of Val d'Agri, Pollino, Matera, Vulture and High Basento and enhanced by an anthropological study, is bringing to public attention varieties so far only imagined in the abundance of grape names which tradition has bequeathed. About the 154 varieties spread in the Lucan towns surveyed in “Statistics of the Naples Kingdom” disposed by G. Murat in 1811, about the 63 wine varieties and 29 to dual purpose (wine and table), cataloged in Ampelographic Bulletins of the Ministry of Agriculture of 1881, or about the 30 vines from which it has been produced wines presented at the first wine exhibition of 1887 which was held in Potenza, mostly have unfortunately gone missing along with the memory of those who died or emigrated elsewhere abandoning the vines. In archives, remain some ephemeral relationships of those who, like Frojo and Lacava, were worried about record at least the presence, leaving to posterity further details. From the field, exploring old vines or identifying ancient solitary stocks and making use of the historical memory of winegrowers, authentic custodians of biodiversity and of oral tradition for names and ampelographic characters, we have collected 561 accessions. The DNA study has then unraveled varietal confusion detecting synonymous and homonymies, restoring confidence in the effective recognition of the varieties spread in the region. About the accessions analyzed, 421, corresponding to 68 distinct varieties, are included in the National Register; while 140 (17 of which related to foreign varieties) have vernacular names that, in the failure to meet the registered varieties, represent the precious first signal of great vivacity of these territories, where the evolution in cultivation and selection of best grapes has never stopped, together with a deep understanding of grape physiology. Aglianico bianco, Giosana, Iusana, Santa Sofia, as white grapes, and Aglianico delle fosse, Brindisino, Cassano, Colatamurro, as black grapes, are just some of the new autochthonous varieties we recovered, which – when multiplied and authorized for cultivation – could give more recognizability to the terroir, qualitatively expanding the production base towards typicality and naturalness. The explored territories, entered in a wide geographical and cultural area, are the heart within the Enotria core before, and the historical Lucania then, in the III Domestication Centre (Central and Southern Italy and Sicily), which the vine traversed during the third stage from East (Caucasus) to the West, started from the end of the last Ice Age. The vine and the wine tell the story of a territory, becoming themselves cultural heritage, that is authentic cultural markers