Characterization of grapes and wines of Syrah growing during the autumn-winter season in different viticultural zones of the Brazilian Southeast.

Double pruning management has allowed harvesting good quality wine grapes during the winter season in the Brazilian southeast. Syrah cultivar showed the best response to the modification of grapevine cycle with good maturation and acceptable productivity indices. As a new winegrowing region, little is known about the terroir effects on the composition of Syrah berries and wines. This study was carried out with Syrah vines grafted on 1103P grown in commercial vineyards established in four southeast zones of Brazil: Espirito Santo do Pinhal at 871 m height, Itobi at 811 m, Três Corações at 993 m and Caldas at 1150 m. The vines were trained on vertical shoot position and pruned in January to harvest grapes in the winter season. The highest yield was obtained in Três Corações (9,780 kg.ha-1), followed by Caldas, Pinhal and Itobi. High bud fertility and berries? weight and size contributed to highest yield at Três Corações and Caldas. Grapes grown in Pinhal at 21.5°C of average berry temperature and thermal amplitude of 16.8°C showed higher total soluble solids (23.2°Brix) than the berries harvested in the other viticultural zones (20°Brix). These vines also showed the highest photosynthetic and transpiration rates. Berries harvested at Caldas showed the greatest must acidity probably due to lowest average temperature of the berries (19.2°C) which impairs acid degradation. Berries harvested at Itobi and Três Corações showed higher phenolic compounds and anthocyanins content. The wine from Pinhal showed an alcoholic grade of 15° GL while wine from Caldas had the lowest grade (11°GL). Wines from Três Corações and Pinhal showed the highest polymerized pigments index and color intensity after 16 months aging. Wine tipicity was also evaluated by sensorial analyses in which wines from Caldas showed the lowest scores in hedonic scale. These data showed that it was possible to identify different Syrah winemaking zones in Brazilian southeast.