terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Variety and climatic effects on quality scores in the Western US winegrowing regions

Variety and climatic effects on quality scores in the Western US winegrowing regions

Abstract

Wine quality is strongly linked to climate. Quality scores are often driven by climate variation across different winegrowing regions and years, but also influenced by other aspects of terroir, including variety. While recent work has looked at the relationship between quality scores and climate across many European regions, less work has examined New World winegrowing regions. Here we used scores from three major rating systems (Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator) combined with daily climate and phenology data to understand what drives variation across wine quality scores in major regions of the Western US, including regions in California, Oregon and Washington. We examined effects of variety, region, and in what phenological period climate was most predictive of quality. As in other studies, we found climate, based mainly on growing degree day (GDD) models, was generally associated with quality—with higher GDD associated with higher scores—but variety and region also had strong effects. Effects of region were generally stronger than variety. Certain varieties received the highest scores in only some areas, while other varieties (e.g., Merlot) generally scored lower across regions. Across phenological stages, GDD during budbreak was often most strongly associated with quality. Our results support other studies that warmer periods generally drive high quality wines, but highlight how much region and variety drive variation in scores outside of climate.

DOI:

Publication date: May 31, 2022

Issue: Terclim 2022

Type: Poster

Authors

G. Legault, P. Autio, F. Jones and E. Wolkovich

Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Contact the author

Keywords

wine quality scores, Pacific Norwest, California, growing degree days, phenology

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terclim 2022

Citation

Related articles…

Do natural wines differ from conventionally-produced wines?

In recent years, consumer awareness for consuming healthy and environmental sustainability products has considerably increased [1]. In an ever-changing and highly competitive environment such as the wine sector, production of wines without sulfites, or biodynamic, organic or vegan wines, has experienced an important increase to meet the new needs of consumers [2,3]. Beyond these categories of regulated products, a new concept has emerged: natural wines (NW), for which there is not an established definition or legal regulation. Rather, producers have a personal idea of naturalness under the premise of applying minimal intervention from grape to wine production [4]. In this context, it is hypothesized that self-defined natural wines are different from conventional wines (CW) in their sensory and chemical profile. The predicament of natural wine is based on anecdotic declarations and assumes that minimal intervention guarantees the production of wines with organoleptic properties able to express the “terroir” and thus promote wine diversity, plurality and sensory typicity against the risk of standardization of CW.

Read More

Permanent vs temporary cover crops in a Sangiovese vineyard: preliminary results on vine physiology and productive traits

Cover crops in vineyards have been extensively studied, as the choice of grass species and their management significantly influence soil properties and vine performance.

Read More

Genetics of adventitious root formation in grapevines

Commercial grapevine propagation relies on the ability of dormant wood material to develop adventitious roots.

Read More

Laying footprints on a new path: proper accounting of biogenic fluxes makes viticulture carbon neutral

To limit the acceleration of global warming we need to reduce greenhouse gases emissions (GHG), making our production processes more carbon-efficient and optimizing absorptions.

Read More

Comparison of ancestral and traditional methods in the elaboration of sparkling wines; preliminary results

Top quality sparkling wines (SW) are mostly produced using the traditional method that implies a second fermentation into the bottle[1]. That is the case of sparkling wines of reputed AOC such as Champagne, Cava or Franciacorta. However, it seems that the first SW was elaborated using the ancestral method in which only one fermentation takes place[2]. That is the case of the classical SW from the AOC Blanquette de Limoux[3]. In both cases, SW age in the bottle during some time in contact with lees favoring yeast’s autolysis[4]. There is a lot of information about traditional method but only few exists about ancestral method. The aim of this work was to compare SW made by the ancestral method with SW made by the traditional method.

Read More