Recherche de relations entre terroir et caractéristiques sensorielles des eaux-de-vie de Cognac

Wine color is one of the main organoleptic characteristics influencing its quality. It is of especial interest in red vinifications due to the economic resources that wineries have to invest for the extraction of the phenolic compounds responsible of wine color, compounds that are mainly located inside the skin cell vacuoles. Moreover, these phenolic compounds not only influence color but also other organoleptic properties such as body, mouthfeel, astringency and flavour. The transference of phenolic compounds from grapes to must during vinification is closely related with the type of grapes and the winemaking technique.

The increase in the temperature and the more severe water stress conditions, trends observed in recent years as a consequence of climate change, are leading a mismatch between the technological and phenolic maturity of grapes

Grapevine (Vitis spp.) is a globally significant fruit crop and enhancing its agronomic and oenological traits is crucial to meet changing agricultural conditions and consumer demands.

Oenococcus oeni is the main lactic acid bacteria (LAB) species which conducts the malolactic fermentation (MLF) in wine. During MLF, O. oeni converts malic acid into lactic acid, which modulates wine aroma composition leading to better balanced organoleptic properties. O. oeni is a highly specialized species only detected in environments containing alcohol such as wine, cider or kombucha. Genome analysis of more than 240 strains showed that they form at least 4 main phylogenetic lineages and several sublineages, which are associated with different beverages or types of wines.

Different from wild species in arid and semiarid conditions, cultivated species are very sensitive to drought and, beyond some stress thresholds, food production is not possible