Under-vine management effects on grapevine production, soil properties and plant communities in South Australia

The knowledge of the grape aromatic composition during ripening provides very important information for winegrowers, who may carry out different viticultural practices, or determine the harvest date more accurately. However, there are currently no tools that allow this measurement to be carried out in a non-invasive and rapid way. For this reason, the aim of this work was to design a non-invasive methodology, based on hyperspectral imaging to estimate the aromatic composition and total soluble solids (TSS) of Tempranillo Blanco berries during ripening.

In a recent context where consumers pay an increasing attention to sustainability and eco-friendly aspects in the decision-making process, the use of the resistant varieties in the wine sector have returned to the attention. In this context, the use of mould-resistant grape varieties would be an opportunity for sparkling wine producers as it can reduced the pesticide utilization in grape management and hence production costs.
However, the use of the resistant varieties to produce the base wine may be strongly influenced due to its requirements for a particular balance between sugars and acidity to ensure the quality of the final product. In addition, the aromatic profile of base wine plays a crucial role in the perception of the quality of the sparkling wine.

Eleven wine-growing sites are now on the UNESCO World Heritage List as Cultural Landscapes. If the viticultural character of these sites constitutes the main argument for the demonstration of their heritage value, the terroir and its biophysical and environmental characteristics tend however to appear in a minor mode compared to the aesthetic and cultural dimensions. In other words, the “specific characteristics of the soil, topography, climate, landscape and biodiversity” (OIV definition) are most often used as descriptive elements in the presentation of the sites, but it is more the aesthetic, historical,

The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée of Bandol covers an area of ​​1365 ha, 83% of which are planted with vines, the annual production being around 40,000 hl. Among the wines produced, there are mainly reds which assert themselves over time, but also rosés characterized by their pale colour, generally orange; the whites represent a small part of the production. The main grape variety of this AOC is Mouvèdre, of Spanish origin, which is also found in Provence and Languedoc.

The well-known antifungal and antibiotic molecule, eugenol, is widely spread in various plants including clove, basil and bay. It is also abundant in the hybrid grapevine cultivar (cv) Baco blanc (Vitis vi-nifera x Vitis riparia x Vitis labrusca), created by François Baco (19th century) in the Armagnac region. This study confirmed this cv as highly resistant to Botrytis cinerea by comparing fruit rot incidence and severity with two Vitis vinifera cultivars: Folle Blanche and Ugni Blanc. We have demonstrated the efficiency of eugenol in vitro, by further investigating the effect of small concentrations of eugenol, 3 to 4 ppm (corresponding to IC10), on B. cinerea. By comparing the two major modes of action (direct or volatile antibiosis), the vapour inhibiting effect of eugenol was more powerful. In the skin of Baco blanc berry, the total eugenol concentration reached a maximum at veraison, i.e. 1118 to 1478 μg/kg.