Observatoire du Grenache en Vallée du Rhône: incidence du terroir sur la diversité analytique et sensorielle des vins

Rootstocks have been used in most of the vineyards for over a century. This may seem to be a long period, but it represents only three successive plantations.

The historian starts from a scientific, rigorous and recent definition of the wine-growing region. “A viticultural terroir is made up of several homogeneous units: geological and pedological elements (texture,
grain size, thickness, mineralogical nature, chemical components), geomorphological (altitude, slope, exposure), climatological (rainfall, temperature, insolation)”. Absent from this definition, the man is fortunately reintroduced a little further. By associating viticulture and winemaking, it forms a “couple” with the terroir and this couple.

High quality wines start in the vineyard however little is known about the role vineyard management practices play in this quality outcome. Gold medals and well-known regionality increase consumer preference for purchasing a wine. An increase in the former will certainly also drive an increase in the latter and therefore practices in production that consistently lead to gold medal winning wines will improve both the marketability of the region and its products. It is argued that vinification is the main driver of wine quality and in fact, the presence of some oak compounds is a well-known consumer and expert mark of quality. However, only select wines are vinified in oak and therefore the original grape quality at the winery door must in fact drive all further downstream vinification decisions.

La véraison, stade intermédiaire du développement de la baie de raisin, correspond au début de la maturation. Aux modifications de coloration de la pellicule sont associées une perte de fermeté, une diminution de l’acidité et une augmentation des teneurs en sucres et pigments ainsi que du volume de la baie. Le stade de véraison des cépages blancs reste difficile à apprécier visuellement. Son évaluation par palpation est subjective et donc sujette à caution.

Aljarafe Alto est une petite zone naturelle dans le département de Séville (Espagne), où le cépage autochtone cultivé est le Palomino Garrido Fino.