Applications pratiques du zonage vitivinicole

Extreme climatic events, such as prolonged drought followed by intense flooding, increasingly impact viticulture, affecting vine physiology, productivity, and grape composition.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of topsoil thickness on dormant pruning weights, cluster compactness, and fruit composition (°Brix, titratable acidity, pH) in the Mid-Atlantic of the United States. 

Sulphites are by far the most widely used additive in the wine industry. In relation to health, the interaction of sulphites with the gut microbiota has not been addressed so far. Following the consumption of wine and other sulphite-containing foods, the gastrointestinal tract and the microbiome are one of the first barriers that these compounds face in the human organism. In this study, we used a previously validated gastrointestinal digestion model (SIMGI®) [1,2] to evaluate the effect of intestinal digestion of wine sulphites on the gut microbiome.

Different yeasts were isolated from spontaneous fermentation of Assyrtiko grape must in Santorini Island, Greece. Molecular typing revealed the presence of three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (S9, S13, S24) and one strain of the yeast species Nakazawaea ishiwadae (N.i). The four isolated strains were further tested in laboratory scale fermentations of Assyrtiko must in pure inoculation cultures and in sequential inoculation (72 hours) of each S. cerevisiae strain with the strain of N. ishiwadae. All fermentation trials were realised in duplicate.

Soils in vineyards are recognized as complex agrosystems whose characteristics reflect complex interactions between natural factors (lithology, climate, slope, biodiversity) and human activities. To date, most of the unknown lies in an incomplete understanding of soil ecosystems, and specifically in the microbial biodiversity even though soil microbiota is involved in many key functions, such as nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Soil biological properties are indicative of soil quality. Therefore, understanding how soil communities are related to soil ecosystem functioning is becoming an essential issue for soil strategy conservation. Here, we propose to assess the importance of land-cover history on the present-day microbiological and physico-chemical properties. The studied area was selected in the Burgundian vineyards (Pernand-Vergelesses, Burgundy, France) where land occupation has been reconstructed over the last 40 years. Soil samples were collected in five areas reflecting various land cover history (forest, vineyards, shifting from forest to vineyards). For each area, physico-chemical parameters (pH, C, N, P, grain size) were measured and DNA was extracted to characterize the abundance and diversity of microbial communities. The obtained results show significant differences in the five areas suggesting that present-day microbial molecular biomass and bacterial taxonomic is partly inherited from past land occupation. Over longer period of time, such study of land-uses legacies may help to better assess ecosystem recovery and the impact of management practices for a better soil quality and vineyards sustainability.