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

The quality of any alcoholic beverage depends on many parameters, such as cultivars, harvesting time, fermentation, distillation technology used, quality and type of wooden barrels (in case of matured drinks), etc.; however, the most important factor in their classification is content of volatile compounds.

The traditional methods of grape extraction of enochemical compounds use very often mechanical energy by pistons such as the pigeage or mechanical energy produced by must (delestage, pumping over). Recent trend by winemaker is trying to introduce in the fermentation tank, whole berry grape to avoid even minimal oxidation. Unfortunately, the use of the traditional mechanical techniques aforementioned, very often do not guarantee the optimal extraction with residual sugars in the marc. Use of resonance waves (airmixingtm) and a slight overpressure by CO2 (adcftm) permit to work on whole berry guaranteeing the perfect extraction.

Pruning is one essential vineyard management activity whose main purpose is to regulate plant growth and vigour, modulating berry size, and consequently, wine quality. In Chilecito, La Rioja Province, Argentina, Torrontés Riojano stands as the only autochthonous variety for winemaking, yielding golden and aromatic berries and distinctive muscatel-tasting wines. This white cultivar, resulting from the natural cross between Moscatel de Alejandría x Criolla Chica, is traditionally trained in “parral” (horizontal trellis system), aimed to manage vigorous canopies. This project constitutes the first study on the influence of pruning intensity on Torrontés Riojano growth habit and berry quality.

In a previous zoning program (1998-2002), climatic and pedological factors were able to distinguish 14 terroir within the Soave DOC area where wine characteristics are well recognizable. Nevertheless, in the past vinegrowers identified several vineyards where a better quality of the grapes and wines could be obtained. So, « beyond the zonation » will aim to suggest a new methodology to characterise the Cru, starting with 15 vineyards that were selected in the Soave Classico DOC area. In the year 2005, a meteorological station was positioned in each vineyard and temperature data were collected; because of the limited area of investigation, only 3 rain sensors were set up.

The environmental biodiversity is important to guarantee essential services to the living communities, its richness is a symptom of a minor disturbance and improves he environment biological quality.