Analyse de la perception du terroir et de sa valorisation par les viticulteurs de l’Anjou

AIM: The increasing market competitiveness is promoting the production of special dry wines with distinctive characteristics, obtained either from minor winegrape varieties and/or the inclusion of partially dehydrated grapes.

Soils in vineyards are recognized as complex agrosystems whose characteristics reflect complex interactions between natural factors (lithology, climate, slope, biodiversity) and human activities. To date, most of the unknown lies in an incomplete understanding of soil ecosystems, and specifically in the microbial biodiversity even though soil microbiota is involved in many key functions, such as nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Soil biological properties are indicative of soil quality. Therefore, understanding how soil communities are related to soil ecosystem functioning is becoming an essential issue for soil strategy conservation. Here, we propose to assess the importance of land-cover history on the present-day microbiological and physico-chemical properties. The studied area was selected in the Burgundian vineyards (Pernand-Vergelesses, Burgundy, France) where land occupation has been reconstructed over the last 40 years. Soil samples were collected in five areas reflecting various land cover history (forest, vineyards, shifting from forest to vineyards). For each area, physico-chemical parameters (pH, C, N, P, grain size) were measured and DNA was extracted to characterize the abundance and diversity of microbial communities. The obtained results show significant differences in the five areas suggesting that present-day microbial molecular biomass and bacterial taxonomic is partly inherited from past land occupation. Over longer period of time, such study of land-uses legacies may help to better assess ecosystem recovery and the impact of management practices for a better soil quality and vineyards sustainability.

This work aimed at setting up a multivariate and geostatistical methodology to map natural terroir units of the viticultural areas at the province scale (1:125,000).

Context and purpose of the study. Climate change threatens traditional winegrowing regions, with about 90% of areas like southern France at risk by the end of the century due to heatwaves and droughts.

Understanding the water-use responses of grapevines to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is mandatory when assessing the impact of climate change on viticulture as it is a critical part of the adaptation process.