Landscape marketing and landscape reality: what is the relationship? The case of the Loire Valley vineyards

The components and methodology for characterization of the terroir in Spain have been described by Gómez-Miguel et al. (2003), Sotés et al. (2003), taking into account the full range of environmental factors (i.e: climate, vegetation, topography, soils, altitude, etc.),

In recent years, heightened awareness of the environmental impact has led to sustainability as a key issue for the winemaking sector.

Climate change constitutes an enormous challenge for humankind and for all human activities, viticulture not being an exception. Long-term strategic changes are probably needed the most, but growers also need to deal with short-term changes: summers that are getting progressively warmer, earlier harvest dates and higher pH in musts and wines. In the last 10-15 years, a relevant corpus of research is being developed worldwide in order to evaluate to which extent extreme canopy management operations, aimed at reducing leaf area and, thus, limiting the source to sink ratio, could be useful to delay ripening. Although extreme canopy management can result in relevant delays in harvest dates, longer term studies, as well as detailed analysis of their implications on carbohydrate reserves, bud fertility and future yield are desirable before these practices can be recommended.

Une étude conduite dans le cœur du vignoble A.O.C. angevin, sur une surface d’environ 30.000 ha, a permis de caractériser et cartographier finement (levé au 1/12.500)

Il a été souvent démontré (Seguin, 1970), que les meilleurs terroirs sont ceux qui présentent pendant la période de maturation du raisin, une régulation et une limitation de l’alimentation hydrique de la vigne. Si on s’intéresse aux facteurs influençant ce régime hydrique, on constate le rôle prépondérant du taux d’éléments grossiers non poreux qui limitent la réserve utile du sol en diminuant le taux de terre fine. De plus, ces éléments grossiers jouent également un rôle au niveau du pédo-climat thermique car leur conductivité thermique et leur chaleur spécifique sont plus élevées que celles de la terre fine. Ainsi le sol se réchauffera et se refroidira plus rapidement (Saini et McLean, 1967), (Gras, 1994).