Research on the Grape Ripening Process in the Odobești Vineyard Area

Ionica Bosoi¹, Marioara Pușcalău², Liliana Rotaru¹

¹Universitatea de Științele Vieții ,,Ion Ionescu de la Brad” Iaşi

²Staṭiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Viticultură și Vinificație Odobești

Keywords: acidity, climate, percentage difference, ripening process, sugars.

Abstract: Grape ripening is a very complex biochemical process on which the quality of the must and the wine depends, its evolution being differentiated according to the variety and the climatic conditions.

The current global and zonal climate changes are also directly influencing the development of physiological and biochemical processes during grape ripening. This study presents the analysis of the process of growing and ripening grapes at four varieties of vines for white wines, created at SCDVV Odobești (Șarba, Băbească gri, Miorița and Vrancea) in the period 2020-2021. The dynamic evolution of the three parameters that define the process of grape ripening (average mass of 100 berries, sugar content and total acidity), from harvesting to grape harvest, indicates the highest percentage increase compared to the initial average mass of 100 grains at the variety Băbească gri (152.0%), and the smallest for the Șarba variety (117.1%). The highest percentage difference compared to the initial sugar content was also recorded at the variety Băbească gri (232.5%) and the lowest in the Vrancea variety (167.1%.) The largest percentage difference compared to the initial acidity was recorded at the Miorița variety, whose final acidity reaches 37.7% of the initial acidity, and the lowest decrease in acidity is registered by the Vrancea variety (48.3% of the initial acidity). During the study period, the average duration of the grape ripening process was shorter (38.3 days), compared to the multiannual average (42.5 days), with small differences between varieties, which confirms the influence of actual climate change in Odobești viticultural area.