Hierarchy of the role of climate, soil and cultivar in terroir effect can largely be explained by vine water status

Several winemaking operations, such as filtration, pumping, and racking, are known to potentially facilitate the incorporation of atmospheric O2 into the wine. Control of grape must oxidation is one key aspect in the management of white wine aroma expression, color stability and shelf-life extension. On the one hand, controlled must oxidation may help to remove highly reactive phenolic compounds, which otherwise could contribute to premature oxidation. And on the other hand, in certain cases of extreme protection of the must from O2 (e.g. pressing under inert atmosphere), it can help to preserve varietal aromas and natural must antioxidants.

Among the numerous nutrients vines extract from the soil, nitrogen is the one that interferes most with vine vigor, yield, berry constitution and wine quality. Many studies relate on the influence of various levels of nitrogen

Top quality sparkling wines (SW) are mostly produced using the traditional method that implies a second fermentation into the bottle[1]. That is the case of sparkling wines of reputed AOC such as Champagne, Cava or Franciacorta. However, it seems that the first SW was elaborated using the ancestral method in which only one fermentation takes place[2]. That is the case of the classical SW from the AOC Blanquette de Limoux[3]. In both cases, SW age in the bottle during some time in contact with lees favoring yeast’s autolysis[4]. There is a lot of information about traditional method but only few exists about ancestral method. The aim of this work was to compare SW made by the ancestral method with SW made by the traditional method.

The ongoing climate change results in increasing mean air temperature, which is manifested by weather extremes or sudden changes between drought and local heavy rainfalls. These changing conditions are especially challenging for the established grapevine varieties growing under cool climate conditions due to an increased biotic infection pressure. Thus, the scope of most grapevine breeding programs is the selection of mildew fungus-resistant and climatic adapted grapevines with balanced, healthy yield and outstanding wine quality. Since no resistances or candidate genes have yet been described for Botrytis bunch rot (BBR), physical-mechanical traits like berry size and thick, impermeable berry cuticles phenotyped with high-throughput sensors represent novel effective parameters to predict BBR.

Vineyards are affected by different virus diseases, which can lower yield and affect the quality of grapes. Grapevine red blotch disease is one of them, and no curative solution exists. Once infected, a vine must be removed and replaced with a virus-free vine (aka roguing). Screening vineyards to look for symptoms can be time-consuming and needs well-trained experts. To improve this process, we conducted an experiment identifying infected vines using a hyperspectral camera in the field.