Accurate grape yield estimation is essential for effective vineyard management, crop planning, and resource allocation. Traditional methods often involve time-consuming and labour-intensive processes, which may introduce errors due to the large size and inherent spatial variability of the vineyard blocks.

Viticulture is facing two major changes – climate change and agroecological transition. In both cases, soil quality is seen as a lever to move towards a more sustainable viticulture. However, soil biological quality is little considered in the implementation of viticultural practices. Gascogn’Innov (2017-2022) is an Operational Group funded by the European Innovation Partnership for Agriculture. As such, it brings together winegrowers from the south-west of France, scientists, advisors and technicians, around a project focused on viticultural soil biological functioning and the design of technical routes more respectful toward soil heritage. To achieve this, the project aims to acquire references on the impact of viticultural practices on soil biology from a dynamic way, and to test a methodology to integrate information provided by the soil bioindicators to manage farming systems. A set of indicators of soil biological quality are evaluated in the project: microorganisms (bacteria and fungi abundance and diversity), fauna (abundance and diversity of nematodes and earthworms), physico-chemical characteristics, soil structure assessment and degradation rate of organic matter. Based on a network of 13 plots that have been subject to an initial diagnosis in 2017, several agronomical practices to restore soil fertility are experimented to redesign the cropping system (for instance plant cover, organic matter inputs, reduction of herbicides, mineral fertilizers). System redesign was made in collaboration by winegrowers and an interdisciplinary group of experts (agronomists, biologists). Several indicators are measured on vine and soil at each vintage to assess vine health and productivity. At the end of the project (2021), a final diagnosis was carried out. Gascogn’Innov allowed to create a regional database on the quality of wine-growing soils, which permitted to evaluate the effect of practices according to soil types. Especially, decreasing the intensity of tillage and increasing the duration and diversity of grass coverage tends to increase the abundance of all the organisms studied. This project confirmed the value of soil biological quality indicators to drive the sustainability of practices, but also highlighted the key-role of expertise, in both agronomy and soil biology, to help winegrowers understand and appropriate their soil quality diagnoses.

Climate change is altering water balances, thereby compromising water availability for crops. In grapevine, the strategic selection of genotypes more tolerant to soil water deficit can improve the resilience of the vineyard under this scenario. Previous studies demonstrated that root anatomical and morphological traits determine vine performance under water deficit conditions. Therefore, 13 ungrafted rootstock genotypes, 6 commercial (420 A, 41 B, Evex 13-5, Fercal, 140 Ru y 110 R), and 7 from new breeding programs (RG2, RG3, RG4, RG7, RG8, RG9 and RM2) were evaluated in pots during 2021 and 2022.

Lugana Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wines are made from Turbiana grapes. The aroma of Lugana wines results from the combined contribution of esters, terpenes, norisprenoids, sulfur compounds and the benzenoid methyl salicylate. This study aims to investigate how volatile aroma compounds are affected by different nitrogen supplies and yeast strains. Wines were produced with a standard protocol with 2021 Turbiana grapes with two different yeasts Zymaflore Delta e Zymaflore X5 (Laffort, France).During the alcoholic fermentation of the must, when H2S appeared, additions of various nitrogen supply were made: inorganic nitrogen, organic nitrogen, a mix of inorganic and organic nitrogen and organic nitrogen with an addition of pure methionine. During wine fermentation, a daily measurement of hydrogen sulfide was carried out.

Climate change poses several challenges for the wine-industry in the 21st century. Adaptation of viticultural and winemaking practices are therefore essential to preserve wine quality and typicity. Given the complex interactions between physical, biological and human factors at terroir scales, studies conducted at these fine scales allow to better define the local environment and its influences on grapevine growth and berry ripening.