Disease-Tolerant Grape Varieties as a Sustainable Viticultural Strategy: Evaluation of Oenological Potential by GC×GC-TOFMS Volatile Analysis

Viticulture currently faces major environmental challenges, mainly due to the intensive use of plant protection products to control downy and powdery mildew diseases, which are being intensified by climate change. To promote more sustainable production, cryptogamic disease-tolerant grape varieties have been developed through crosses between fungus-resistant Vitis varieties and traditional Vitis vinifera varieties. The cryptogamic disease-tolerant grape varieties can reduce the use of plant protection products by up to eighty percent, lowering both the carbon footprint and environmental impact. Nevertheless, knowledge of their oenological potential, especially regarding volatile composition, remains limited. This study aims to characterise and compare the volatile composition of cryptogamic disease-tolerant grape varieties with their progenitor varieties from the 2024 and 2025 vintages, using headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HS-SPME–GC×GC–TOFMS). The results show that cryptogamic disease-tolerant grape varieties showed a volatile composition more closely aligned with that of traditional Vitis vinifera varieties than with those of fungus-resistant Vitis varieties. Additionally, cryptogamic disease-tolerant grapes contain a large amount of varietal compounds. These findings expand current knowledge of the volatile composition of disease-tolerant grapevines and may inform future research on their potential suitability for sustainable viticulture.