Terroir et marché des A.O.C

The diversity of soil types in the Western Cape of South Africa leads to high levels of within-vineyard variability. Multispectral remote sensing has received a lot of attention recently in the South-African wine industry in an attempt to identify and deal with this variability.

Since the emergence of phylloxera, grafting has been the most used propagation method in viticulture. Despite all the improvement measures implemented in the nurseries, it is frequent that graft success rates vary depending on the nursery process and scion/rootstock combinations. The reasons behind this unsatisfactory behaviour are still unknown and can be diverse, although carbohydrate reserves might be hypothesised to be crucial, since callus, root, and new tissue formation will be built based on them. In order to identify the effect of carbohydrates on grafting success, nine combinations were established based on the starch content in grapevine scionwoods (cv. Tempranillo clone VN69) and rootstocks cuttings (110 Richter clone 237) used for grafting: Low (L), Medium (M), High (H).

AIM: Currently, an increasing concern from governments and consumers about environmental sustainability of wine production provides new challenges for innovation in wine industry. Accordingly, the application of more-environmentally friendly vineyard treatments against fungal diseases (powdery and downy mildew) could have a cascading impact on yeast ecology of wine production.

Color is a key quality trait for grape berry and the producing wines. Berry color of red genotypes is mainly determined by the quantity and composition of anthocyanins accumulated in the skin and/or pulp. Both genetic and environmental factors could influence the quantity and composition of anthocyanins, while the underlying mechanisms are not fully clear. To explore the mechanisms underlying the diversity of anthocyanin accumulation in grape berry, we compared two grapevine genotypes showing distinct sensitivities to ABA-induced anthocyanin biosynthesis, where one genotype showed minor responses to exogenous ABA application while the other showed significant increase in anthocyanins after exogenous ABA application.

The temperature increase related to ongoing climate changes is causing a progressive anticipation of the ripening time, negatively affecting grape quality at harvest.