Berry Cell Vitality Assessment and the Effect on Wine Sensory Traits Based on Chemical Fingerprinting, Canopy Architecture and Machine Learning Modelling

Berry cell death assessment can become one of the most objective parameters to assess important berry quality traits, such as aroma profiles that can be passed to the wine in the winemaking process. At the moment, the only practical tool to assess berry cell death in the field is using portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and machine learning (ML) models. This research tested the NIR and ML approach and developed supervised regression ML models using Shiraz and Chardonnay berries and wines from a vineyard located in Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. An ML model was developed using NIR measurements from intact berries as inputs to estimate berry cell death (BCD), living tissue (LT) (Model 1). Furthermore, canopy architecture parameters obtained from cover photography of grapevine canopies and computer vision analysis were also tested as inputs to develop ML models to assess BCD and LT (Model 2) and the intensity of sensory descriptors based on visual and aroma profiles of wines for Chardonnay (Model 3) and Shiraz (Model 4). The results showed high accuracy and performance of models developed based on correlation coefficient (R) and slope (b) (M1: R = 0.87; b = 0.82; M2: R = 0.98; b = 0.93; M3: R = 0.99; b = 0.99; M4: R = 0.99; b = 1.00). Models developed based on canopy architecture, and computer vision can be used to automatically estimate the vigor and berry and wine quality traits using proximal remote sensing and with visible cameras as the payload of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).