Temperature variability inside a wine production area and its effect on vine phenology and grape ripening. An example from the Saint-Emilion-Pomerol

The cost-effectiveness of a winery requires constant cost control in order to ensure competitiveness on the wine market.

In classic red wine-making process, grapes are usually destemmed between harvest and the filling of the vat. However, some winemakers choose to let all or a part of the stems in contact with the juice during vatting, this is called whole bunch vinification. For instance, this practice is traditionally used in some French wine regions, notably in Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley. The choice to keep this part of the grape is likely to affect the sensory properties of wine, as its gustatory perception1,2.

The evaluation of new grapevine genotypes regarding their potential to produce high quality wines is the time limiting factor in the process of grapevine breeding. Hence, the development of quality-related markers useable in marker-assisted selection (MAS) as well as in prediction models for this bottleneck trait will tremendously enhance breeding efficiency. In extensive studies a training set of a segregating white wine F1 population (150 F1 genotypes = POP150; `Calardis Musqué´ x `Villard Blanc´) was deeply phenotyped and genotyped for model development and QTL analysis.

The use of varieties tolerant to diseases is a long-term but promising option to reduce chemical input in viticulture. Several important breeding programs in Europe and abroad are starting to release a range of new hybrids performing well regarding fungi susceptibility and wine quality.

This study investigates how precipitation from November to February during each harvest year, influence the phenolic and isotopic profiles of red wines, particularly focusing on trans-resveratrol, total phenolic compounds, and carbon and oxygen isotopes (¹³C/¹²C and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O).