Terroir 1996 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Review of the delimited zone of the AOC Saint-Joseph

Review of the delimited zone of the AOC Saint-Joseph

Abstract

L’appellation d’origine contrôlée repose sur une définition précise de l’aire de production du raisin. Cette délimitation définie par l’Institut National des Appellations d’Origine est proposée par des experts choisis pour leurs compétences dans le domaine de la connaissance de la relation terroir – vins, après avis du syndicat de défense de chaque AOC. L’exemple choisi concerne l’AOC St Joseph située dans les Cotes du Rhône dites Septentrionales. Celle-ci avait été définie en 1956 sur 6 communes autour de Tournon en Ardèche. Elle fut étendue à 20 autres communes en 1969. A cette époque, les experts ont pris en compte l’incertitude vis-à-vis de l’avenir viticole des coteaux qui dominent la vallée du Rhône. En effet, pour les entretenir, ceux-ci nécessitaient des ressources humaines qui commençaient à se faire rare. Cette idée conduisit ainsi à délimiter une zone de production assez large afin d’étendre l’appellation à des terrains compatibles avec les moyens modernes d’exploitation liés à la mécanisation. Au milieu des années 1980,dans sa sagesse, la réflexion du syndicat de défense de l’appellation vis à vis de l’avenir de l’AOC St Joseph l’amènera, à prendre conscience de la dérive qui pouvait conduire à une banalisation des vins de l’AOC St Joseph du fait de la délocalisation du vignoble permise par la décision de 1969. Dès 1986, le syndicat demande alors à l’INAO la possibilité d’engager une révision de l’aire délimitée pour respecter l’implantation en coteaux de la vigne,situation qui a fait la notoriété de cette AOC. Après de nombreux travaux sur le terrain et après un long travail de persuasion des différents acteurs de l’appellation, une nouvelle délimitation vit le jour en 1994. Ainsi, l’aire de production potentielle est désormais réduite de 6850 ha à 3400 ha afin de recentrer le vignoble sur les coteaux, éléments fondateurs de cette appellation. Cette opération conduisit également à exclure des vignes déjà plantées: sur 755 ha de vignes que comportait l’AOC en 1992, 170 ha furent éliminés. Des mesures d’accompagnement notamment incitation financière pour planter dans les coteaux ont été retenues et ont permis de faire accepter cette opération douloureuse. Aujourd’hui le recentrage du vignoble dans les coteaux a permis de recadrer l’image de l’AOC St Joseph et de mieux affirmer l’identité de ses vins. Elle a permis également de faire revivre le paysage viticole des coteaux dominant la vallée du Rhône dans des conditions économiques satisfaisantes permettant une meilleure valorisation du produit. Des mesures d’accompagnement notamment incitation financière pour planter dans les coteaux ont été retenues et ont permis de faire accepter cette opération douloureuse. Aujourd’hui le recentrage du vignoble dans les coteaux a permis de recadrer l’image de l’AOC St Joseph et de mieux affirmer l’identité de ses vins. Elle a permis également de faire revivre le paysage viticole des coteaux dominant la vallée du Rhône dans des conditions économiques satisfaisantes permettant une meilleure valorisation du produit. Cet exemple montre qu’un travail d’experts, réalisé en lien avec les «porteurs de mémoire» que représente le syndicat de défense d’une AOC permet de retrouver les éléments fondamentaux qui constituent le «terroir» de l’AOC St Joseph: un paysage, des vignes en coteaux et un savoir-faire dans un milieu difficile pour révéler un vin prestigieux.

DOI:

Publication date: February 3, 2022

Issue: Terroir 2002

Type: Article

Authors

Gilbert FRIBOURG

Institut National des Appellations, 17, Rue Jacquard ZI des Auréats, 26000 VALENCE

Keywords

appellation d’origine, délimitation, révision, coteaux, AOC St Joseph

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2002

Citation

Related articles…

A predictive model of spatial Eca variability in the vineyard to support the monitoring of plant status

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...

What are the optimal ranges and thresholds for berry solar radiation for flavonoid biosynthesis?

In wine grape production, canopy management practices are applied to control the source-sink balance and improve the cluster microclimate to enhance berry composition. The aim of this study was to identify the optimal ranges of berry solar radiation exposure (exposure) for upregulation of flavonoid biosynthesis and thresholds for their degradation, to evaluate how canopy management practices such as leaf removal, shoot thinning, and a combination of both affect the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon) yield components, berry composition, and flavonoid profile under context of climate change. First experiment assessed changes in the grape flavonoid content driven by four degrees of exposure. In the second experiment, individual grape berries subjected to different exposures were collected from two cultivars (Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot). The third experiment consisted of an experiment with three canopy management treatments (i) LR (removal of 5 to 6 basal leaves), (ii) ST (thinned to 24 shoots per vine), and (iii) LRST (a combination of LR and ST) and an untreated control (UNT). Berry composition, flavonoid content and profiles, and 3-isobutyl 2-methoxypyrazine were monitored during berry ripening. Although increasing canopy porosity through canopy management practices can be helpful for other purposes, this may not be the case of flavonoid compounds when a certain proportion of kaempferol was achieved. Our results revealed different sensitivities to degradation within the flavonoid groups, flavonols being the only monitored group that was upregulated by solar radiation. Within different canopy management practices, the main effects were due to the ST. Under environmental conditions given in this trial, ST and LRST hastened fruit maturity; however, a clear improvement of the flavonoid compounds (i.e., greater anthocyanin) was not observed at harvest. Methoxypyrazine berry content decreased with canopy management practices studied. Although some berry traits were improved (i.e. 2.5° Brix increase in berry total soluble solids) due to canopy management practices (ST), this resulted in a four-fold increase in labor operations cost, two-fold decrease in yield with a 10-fold increase in anthocyanin production cost per hectare that should be assessed together as the climate continues to get hot.

Comparison of imputation methods in long and varied phenological series. Application to the Conegliano dataset, including observations from 1964 over 400 grape varieties

A large varietal collection including over 1700 varieties was maintained in Conegliano, ITA, since the 1950s. Phenological data on a subset of 400 grape varieties including wine grapes, table grapes, and raisins were acquired at bud break, flowering, veraison, and ripening since 1964. Despite the efforts in maintaining and acquiring data over such an extensive collection, the data set has varying degrees of missing cases depending on the variety and the year. This is ubiquitous in phenology datasets with significant size and length. In this work, we evaluated four state-of-the-art methods to estimate missing values in this phenological series: k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN), Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (mice), MissForest, and Bidirectional Recurrent Imputation for Time Series (BRITS). For each phenological stage, we evaluated the performance of the methods in two ways. 1) On the full dataset, we randomly hold-out 10% of the true values for use as a test set and repeated the process 1000 times (Monte Carlo cross-validation). 2) On a reduced and almost complete subset of varieties, we varied the percentage of missing values from 10% to 70% by random deletion. In all cases, we evaluated the performance on the original values using normalized root mean squared error. For the full dataset we also obtained performance statistics by variety and by year. MissForest provided average errors of 17% (3 days) at budbreak, 14% (4 days) at flowering, 14.5% (7 days) at veraison, and 17% (3 days) at maturity. We completed the imputations of the Conegliano dataset, one of the world’s most extensive and varied phenological time series and a steppingstone for future climate change studies in grapes. The dataset is now ready for further analysis, and a rigorous evaluation of imputation errors is included.

Analysis of some environmental factors and cultural practices that affect the production and quality of the Manto Negro, Callet and Prensal Blanc varieties

45 non irrigated vineyards distributed in the DO (Denomination) Pla i Llevant de Mallorca and the DO Binissalem Mallorca were used to investigate the characteristics of production and quality and their relationships certain environmental factors and cultural practices. The grape varieties investigated are autochthonous to the island of Mallorca, Manto Negro and Callet as red and Prensal Blanc as white. All plants were measured for four consecutive years in the main production and quality parameters. Among the environmental factors, the type of soil has been studied, more specifically its water retention capacity, the planting density, the age of the vineyard and the level of viral infection. The presence or absence of virus seems to have no effect on any component studied in the varieties studied. For the white variety Prensal Blanc age is negatively correlated with production and the number of bunches, nevertheless it does not cause any effect on the required quality parameters. However, for the red varieties Callet and Manto Negro, the age of the plantation is the variable that best correlates with the quality parameters, therefore the old vines should be the object of preservation by the viticulturists and winemakers in order to guarantee its contribution to the quality of the wines made with these varieties.

20-Year-Old data set: scion x rootstock x climate, relationships. Effects on phenology and sugar dynamics

Global warming is one of the biggest environmental, social, and economic threats. In the Douro Valley, change to the climate are expected in the coming years, namely an increase in average temperature and a decrease in annual precipitation. Since vine cultivation is extremely vulnerable and influenced by the climate, these changes are likely to have negative effects on the production and quality of wine.
Adaptation is a major challenge facing the viticulture sector where the choice of plant material plays an important role, particularly the rootstock as it is a driver for adaptation with a wide range of effects, the most important being phylloxera, nematode and salt, tolerance to drought and a complex set of interactions in the grafted plant.
In an experimental vineyard, established in the Douro Region in 1997, with four randomized blocs, with five varieties, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barroca, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, grafted in four rootstocks, Rupestris du Lot, R110, 196-17C, R99 and 1103P, data was collected consecutively over 20 years (2001-2020). Phenological observations were made two to three times a week, following established criteria, to determine the average dates of budbreak, flowering and veraison. During maturation, weekly berry samples were taken to study the dynamics of sugar accumulation, amongst other parameters. Climate data was collected from a weather station located near the vineyard parcel, with data classified through several climatic indices.
The results achieved show a very low coefficient of variations in the average date of the phenophases and an important contribution from the rootstock in the dynamic of the phenology, allowing a delay in the cycle of up to10-12 days for the different combinations. The Principal Component Analysis performed, evaluating trends in the physical-chemical parameters, highlighted the effect of the climate and rootstock on fruit quality by grape varieties.