Vine responses to two irrigation systems in the region of Vinhos Verdes

To digitally record and present all the origins of Austrian wines in the same perfect and clear way was the motivation for the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (Austrian Wine) to start with the project in 2018. In June 2021 the results were presented to the public in an online viewer showing all the designations of Austrian wine, available at https://austrianvineyards.com in a largely barrier-free manner. The online viewer provides tailored individual maps fitted to the respective zoom level. The smallest unit of wine-origins in Austria is called Ried and is displayed in a plot-specific manner highlighting areas under vine. Information on the Ried include administrative district, winegrowing municipality, cadastral municipality, large collective vineyard site, specific winegrowing region, generic winegrowing region, winegrowing area and, in many cases, an illustrative picture. Complementary data on the size, elevation (minimum-maximum), orientation (in 8 sectors plus flat) and gradient (minimum, maximum, average) are based on the area under vine according to the EU’s Integrated Administration and Control System. Additional information covers climate data. The diagrams are taken from the monthly breakdown of data in the annals of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Austria provide a display of values for air temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours for the reference year and the long-term average. Seasonal aggregated data on temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours complete the display. Short descriptions with emphasis on geology and soil, field name in historical maps, etymology of the denomination, and main planted variety complements the available information for the main designations in the online viewer. These descriptions are compiled by winegrowers, geologists, historians, and journalists. All the information and data can be extracted to a pdf-file. Printed vineyard maps are also available. Missing content regarding wine origins in Styria will be completed in winter 2021/22.

Une étude de la physiologie de la vigne (cv. Merlot) et de la qualité des vins a été réalisée au Tessin de 2006 à 2008. La méthodologie utilisée pour cette étude intégrait tous les paramètres qui définissent les terroirs: facteurs naturels (géologie, pédologie et climat), facteurs physiologiques de la vigne et qualité des vins qui sont les révélateurs de la valeur d’un terroir.

There is an urgent need in viticulture to adopt alternative herbicide-free soil management strategies to mitigate climate change, increase biodiversity, reduce plant protection products and improve soil quality while minimizing detrimental effects on grapevine’s stress tolerance and fruit quality. To propose sustainable solutions, adapted to different pedoclimatic conditions in Switzerland, we developed a multidisciplinary 4-year project, started in 2020. Objectives of the project are to a) evaluate the impact of green covers (spontaneous flora, winter cover crop and permanent ground cover) on environmental and agronomic parameters and b) develop subsequently innovative strategies for different viticultural contexts of Switzerland. The project is divided into 3 phases: 1) diagnosis, 2) on-farm and 3) on-station experiments. Phase 1) consisted in an assessment of 30 commercial vineyards all over Switzerland, where growers already use different herbicide-free soil management strategies. The most promising practices identified in this exploratory phase will be replicated in commercial vineyards across Switzerland (“on-farm”) as well as in a classical randomized block design in an experimental plot (“on-station”). For phase 1), measurements consisted in evaluation of soil status (compaction, structure, roots development), soil microbial diversity (metagenomics), plant diversity and biomass, vine physiology (water stress, vigor, leaf nitrogen) and berry quality (acidity, sugar, available nitrogen). Interestingly, the permanent ground cover resulted in a higher Shannon index thus a higher biodiversity as compared to the other itineraries. The winter cover crop increased vine nitrogen and vigor while deteriorating soil quality, leaving the soil more exposed and compacted likely due to more frequent tillage. The spontaneous flora led to higher berry sugar accumulation, less nitrogen and higher malic acid concentration putatively due to a higher water retention of the flora in a particularly wet vintage. Phases 2) and 3) are required to confirm those tendencies, over the 3 next vintages and different climatic conditions.

One of the main plant defence mechanisms is the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) mediated by Salicylic Acid (SA). This is a heightened and broad-spectrum immune response initiated by the exposure to pathogens, inducing resistance not only in the infected site, but also throughout the entire plant. It was demonstrated that plant immune system can be regulated by two classes of SA receptors: NONEXPRESSOR OF PR GENES 1 (NPR1) and NPR1-LIKE PROTEIN 3 and 4 (NPR3/NPR4). While NPR1 is required for SA-induction followed by the expression of pathogenesis-related (PR) protein and resistance against pathogens, NPR3/NPR4 serve as transcriptional co-repressors of SA-responsive genes.

In a long-term experiment carried out in Chinon vineyard (37, France) during 23 years, the effects of several organic amendments were studied on soil, vine, grapes and wine. Four main treatments were compared on a calcareous sandy soil: control without organic amendment, dry crushed pruning wood at 2.1.t-1.ha-1.year-1 (D1), cow manure at 10 t-1. ha-1.year-1 (D1) and cow manure applied at 20 t-1.ha-1.year-1 (D2). D1 levels were calculated to fill the annual humus losses by mineralization.