Water deficits limit yields and this is one of the negative aspects of climate change. However, this applies particularly when emphasis is on biomass production (e.g. for crops like maize, wheat, etc.)

Clarification or fining of wines is a technique used in wineries to eliminate unwanted wine components, which negatively affect its quality. Clarification normally involves the addition of an adsorptive material that eliminates or reduces the presence of undesirable components. The problem is that many of the fining agents used in the industry contain allergens, such as caseinates or ovalbumin.

Diurnal changes in the leaves of field-grown grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars Syrah and Tempranillo were followed over summer 2009 with respect to gas exchanges. Net photosynthetic rate (AN) of both cultivars rapidly increased in the morning, decreasing slowly until the late afternoon, when reached the lowest values.

France is the largest exporter of wine in the world. The export turnover is estimated at 8.7 billion euros in 2017 for 13 million hectoliters sold. This lucrative business pushes scammers to increase the value of some low-end wines by cheating on their appellations, quality or even their origins. These facts lead to losing 1.3 billion euros each year to the European Union’s wine and spirits companies.

Purpose of this research is to quantitatively assess the mineral component of vineyard soils, with particular attention to the mineralogical analysis of clays, which represent an element of high importance in the vineyard culture as well as in general agriculture. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) / thermogravimetric (TG) multi-technique analytical approach was developed, tested on soil samples taken from vineyards around the world. This codified analytical procedure was necessary to obtain precise qualitative and quantitative mineralogical data, globally comparable to distinguish the geopedological identity of the vineyards. Soil samples from vineyards of various locations were analysed, in very different geological conditions. The bulk-rock quantitative phase analysis (QPA) was obtained by the Rietveld method while the detailed composition of the clay-sized fraction was determined by modelling of the oriented X-ray diffraction patterns. The research provided a precise classification of the mineral component of soils, distinguishing the mineral phases of the clays and the so-called mixed-layer clay minerals. We found that the content in mixed layers can be directly correlated with the water retention and the cation exchange capacity ​​of the soil, while the presence of other clayey minerals and phyllosilicates in this research did not affect this CEC parameter, which codes the fertility level of the soils. The study demonstrates that terroir, in particular soils formed in complex or very different geological conditions, can only be effectively interpreted by properly analysing its mineral phases, in particular the mixed-layer clay component. These are characteristic abiotic ecological indicators, which may have specific eco-physiological influences on the plant.