Comportamiento de la variedade “Touriga Nacional” en la Región Demarcada del Douro, en diferentes condiciones climáticas y edáficas

Choosing the rootstock, the scion variety and the training system best suited to the local soil and climate are the key elements for an economically sustainable production of wine. The choice of the rootstock/scion variety best adapted to the characteristics of the soil is essential but, by changing climatic conditions, ongoing climate change disrupts the fine-tuned local equilibrium. Higher temperatures induce shifts in developmental stages, with on the one hand increasing fears of spring frost damages and, on the other hand, ripening during the warmest periods in summer. Expected higher water demand and longer and more frequent drought events are also major concerns. The genetic control of the phenotypes, by genomic information but also by the epigenetic control of gene expression, offers a lot of opportunities for adapting the plant material to the future. For complex traits, genomic selection is also a promising method for predicting phenotypes. However, ecophysiological modelling is necessary to better anticipate the phenotypes in unexplored climatic conditions Genetic approaches applied on parameters of ecophysiological models rather than raw observed data are more than ever the basis for finding, or building, the ideal varieties of the future.

The plant rhizosphere microbial communities are an essential component of plant microbiota, which is crucial for sustaining the production of healthy crops. The main drivers of the composition of such communities are the growing environment and the planted genotype. Recent viticulture studies focus on understanding the effects of these factors on soil microbial composition since microbial biodiversity is an important determinant of plant phenotype, and of wine’s organoleptic properties. Microbial biodiversity of different wine regions, for instance, is an important determinant of wine terroir.

The AOC Gaillac area is divided into three main terroirs : « The left bank terraces », « The right bank coteaux » and
« The plateau Cordais ». This division is valid at a regional scale, but it suffers of a number of local-scale exceptions. This spatial variability of the pedologic-geologic characteristics at the plot scale has been derived mainly from the main late-Würmian solifluxion phase occurring at the transition between the peri-glacial climate and the Holocene temperate conditions (13,000-10,000 yrs BP).

To make some particular wine styles (e.g., Amarone), grapes are harvested and stored in dehydrating rooms before vinification, in a process called withering

Studies on wineomics (wine’s metabolome) have increased considerably over the last two decades. Wine results from many environmental, human and biological factors leading to a specific metabolome for each terroir. NMR metabolomics is a particularly effective tool for studying the metabolome since it allows the rapid and simultaneous detection of major compounds from several chemical families.1 Quantitative NMR has already proven its effectiveness in monitoring the authenticity of still wines.