Recovery from grapevine Flavescence dorée in areas of High Infection Pressure

Flavescence dorée (FD) is a quarantine grapevine disease caused by a phytoplasma transmittedby the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus Ball. FD management relies on compulsory insecticide treatments,roguing of infected plants, and substitution with certified material. Some grapevine cultivars showa spontaneous remission of symptoms (recovery). To determine if recovery is a suitable strategy toco-exist with disease in areas of strong infestation, the qualitative aspects of grapes, musts, and winesobtained from recovered Barbera and Chardonnay grapevines were investigated in two productivevineyards. Following field observations, about 1500 plants in each vineyard were divided into healthy(asymptomatic and negative in phytoplasma molecular diagnosis) and recovered (asymptomatic theyear of observation but infected the year before). Maturation curves and microvinification tests followedby oenological and sensory analyses showed that maturation trends of recovered grapes were in linewith those from healthy plants and the final qualities of wines were comparable. The spread of FDhas strongly increased in Piedmont (Italy) in recent decades. Management strategies to cope withthe disease are necessary to preserve traditional wine production. Despite the yield from recoveredgrapevines is quantitatively lower than that from healthy ones, we showed here that the wine quality is,however, preserved.