Climate projections over France wine-growing region and its potential impact on phenology

The chemistry of wine is notably complex and is modified by ageing of the bottles. The composition of wines is the result of vine production (under the influence of vintage, climate and soils); yeast production (under the influence of juice composition and fermentation management); lactic bacteria production (under the influence of young wine composition and malolactic fermentation management); and of the ageing process either in vats, barrels or bottles or both. The composition is linked to the quality perceived by consumers but also to their origin, sometimes associated to the “terroir” concept.

The Alto Douro Wine Region (ADWR) was classified a world heritage site, specifically as a cultural landscape, by UNESCO, in 2001. The well known “Porto Wine” and other high quality wines are produced in the Douro region. As an attraction and touristic site, the cultural site has to meet the needs of more demanding visitors and to compete with a growing number of cultural sites, also classified by UNESCO. To achieve this goal, landscape managers and public authorities have much to profit from knowing and understanding visitors’ preferences regarding the attributes associated to its outstanding universal value.

Climate is one of the main components that defines the development and behavior of the plant, conditioning the health status and the final quality of the grapes. In temperate coastal climates such as in Uruguay (latitude 35° S, longitude 55° O), precipitations during the growing season present high interannual variability, with a average of 100 mm per month. This variability means that plants must adapt to conditions from one year to the next.

During the tasting of a fine, old wine, the aromas generated in the glass are intertwined in an intimate, complex manner, expressing the fragrance of the aging bouquet. This aging bouquet, which develops during bottle storage through a complex transformation process, may result in a broad palette of nuances. Among these, undergrowth, truffle, toasted, spicy, licorice, fresh red- and black-berry fruit and mint descriptors were recently identified as features of its olfactory representation for red Bordeaux wines. Although a targeted chemical approach focusing on volatile sulfur compounds revealed the role played by dimethyl sulfide, 2-furanmethanethiol, and 3-sulfanylhexanol as molecular markers of the typicality of the wine aging bouquet of red Bordeaux wines, its chemical transcription has only partially been elucidated.

Terroir is a complex concept which associates soil, climate, grape variety and cultural practices that include the training system and oenological techniques. It is a type of social construction with man at its centre. The typicality of a wine is also a social construction which is the result of an agreement among specialists vis à vis a given quality of the wine whose references are the wine’s origins (e.g. terroir) and taste.