A climatic characterisation of the sub-Appellations in the Niagara Peninsula wine region

One cultivar could produce distinct wines with typical properties and qualities different depending on its cultivated and its mesoclimatic conditions.

Plant roots fulfil important functions as they are responsible for the acquisition of water and nutrients, for anchorage and stability, for interaction with symbionts and, in some cases, for the storage of carbohydrates. These functions are associated with the Root System Architecture (RSA, i.e. the form and the spatial arrangement of the roots in the soil). The RSA results from several biological processes (elongation, ramification, mortality…) genetically determined but with high structural plasticity.

A multidisciplinary approach aiming at studying the grape-growing areas also referred as “Terroir” was initiated a few years ago in Switzerland.

The phenolic profile of a wine plays an essential role in its oxidative capacity and in both white and red wines it defines its shelf life[1]. The study of minority varieties to produce wines with peculiar characteristics necessarily includes the phenolic and oxidative characterization of the wines produced. This paper presents the study of wines made from 24 minority and majority white and red grape varieties, focusing on phenolic characteristics (total phenols, slightly polymerized phenols, highly polymerized phenols, anthocyanins…), color, as well as parameters related to the oxidability of the wines and their capacity to consume oxygen [2].

Over the last decade, much attention has been paid on the oxidative susceptibility of white wines, given its key role in determining their ageing potential.