Due to the growth of grapevines cultivated areas for wine production, the requirement for viticulture researches have increased for the Brazilian semi-arid region, that could result in a great development of the viticulture at São Francisco River Valley. All commercialized products of the grapevine, as grape, wine, raisin, vinegar, have their origin in the sugars which are produced in leaves during photosynthesis and transported, in production time, to fruits, trunks, roots and leaves which do not expand in vegetative phase. The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of the branch position and the seasonal variations in the content of soluble and insoluble sugars in 'Syrah' grapevine for wine production, cultivated at São Francisco River Valley. This work was carried out in a commercial vineyard and at the Seed/ Plant Physiology laboratory of Embrapa Semi-Arid, Petrolina- Pernambuco State, Brazil. The results allowed to conclude that the sugars are produced in higher quantities, starting from the fifth expanded leaf and are accumulated in leaves next to the bunches. The sugars content in the leaves opposite to the bunches increases during the grape maturation. However, it is strongly influenced by temperature, insolation and radiation.
Vitis vinifera; phenology; carbohydrates
