Abstract :
Cultivation practices are considered as the main factors which affect the product quantity and quality of all plants. The aim of this paper is to present how the cluster thinning contribute on yield features and wine quality of the autochthonous Black Shesh red wine grapevine cultivar. The study was conducted during three consecutive years, 2019-2021. A RCBD with three replications and three variants with a plot size of 10 vines for variant was used. Three cluster thinning (CT) treatments were applied: control (no CT), 25% CT, and 50% CT. Cluster thinning was applied at berries pea-size (stage 75), consisting on removing the upper clusters on shoots. Leaf area per vine, number of clusters per vine, yield per plant, cluster weight, berry weight, TSS, TA, pH of must and wine, alcohol fraction for volume, wine color intensity, total phenolics, total and individual anthocyanin content, were recorded for a 3-year period. There was observed that two CT treatments significantly accelerated grape ripening by 5 and 9 days, reduced grape production per plant, raised cluster weight and berry weight, raised TSS content in must, while TA was reduced. Wine produced form CT treatments showed higher color intensity, higher alcohol content per volume, lower acidity, higher total and individual anthocyanin content. The highest quality wine, considering alcohol content per volume, total phenolics content, total and individual anthocyanin content, was achieved by 50% CT.