The influence of terroir on the quality of wine of the Cahors A.O.C

The aim of this work was to determine the reaction products of bisulfite with grape seed flavanols and changes therein over different storage conditions in a model wine

Winemakers are increasingly experimenting with new techniques, such as spontaneous fermentation, prolonged yeast contact, higher pH, minimal sulphur dioxid, filtration and clarification or oxidative ageing. Along with this, the risk of microbial spoilage increases, and so the off-flavour mousiness, long time underestimated, is becoming more frequent. Characteristic of the mousy off-flavour is the delayed perception after swallowing the wine. After a few seconds the flavour appears, reminiscent of a dirty mouse cage. There are three known compounds that cause mousy off-flavor: 2-ethyltetrahydropyridine, 2-acetyltetrahydopyridine, and 2-acetylpyrroline. Yeasts such as Dekkera/Brettanomyces and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria like Lactobacillus hilgardii can release these compounds.

Over the past two decades, sustainable vineyard management practices have become increasingly important as the wine industry is facing critical challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and soil degradation.

The definition of the term “quality” in sensory evaluation of food products does not seem to be consensual. Descriptive or liking methods are generally used to differentiate between wines (Lawless et al., 1997). Nevertheless, quality evaluation of a product such as wine can also relate to emotional aspects. As exposed by Costell (2002), product quality is defined as an integrated impression, like acceptability, pleasure, or emotional experiences during tasting. According to the ‘modality appropriateness’ hypothesis which predicts that wine tasters weigh the most suitable sensory inputs for a specific assess- ment (Freides, 1974; Welch & Warren, 1980), the nature of the quality definitions may modulate sensory influences.

The growing region of Barolo DOCG certified wines is topographically complex. The region is famous for this complexity and for the associated terroir driven Nebbiolo grapes and wines derived distinctly from this varietal. Although it is recognized that the Barolo area is unusual topographically and it is assumed that this unusual topography lends to the inherit terroir, the specifics of this relationship are less well defined.