Impact of yeast derivatives to increase the phenolic maturity and aroma intensity of wine

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events (EWE) represents a severe threat to viticulture.

The notion of «terroir» refers to the link between the composition, quality and taste of a wine, on the one hand, and its place of origin, on the other. It involves, among other things, the signature of soil elements, as well as the influence of climatic conditions and plant material used. The composition of the wine is also influenced by the winemaking, storage and bottling processes. We were lucky enough to have a time series of the same champagne, from the end of the first world war to the present. On this exceptional time series, we followed, with the most advanced methods, all the elemental signatures by isotopic multi-dilution, the evolution of the isotopic ratios of heavy elements with very high precision of Sr, Pb, B and Cu.

Today, the concept of precision vine management (or site-specific viticulture) has a great relevance. It is based on the practice of a different management in relation to the different features of the crop site. In this way, all practices should be adapted to the land spatial variability and should be linked to the real needs of vines.

The terroir concept is presented as the basis of the A.O.C system, in the french vineyards. The “Anjou terroirs” programme aims at bringing the necessary scientific basisfor a rational and reasoned exploitation of the terroir. lt must lead to finalizing a lighter, more relevant integrated method of characterisation wich could be generally applied.

Choosing the rootstock, the scion variety and the training system best suited to the local soil and climate are the key elements for an economically sustainable production of wine. The choice of the rootstock/scion variety best adapted to the characteristics of the soil is essential but, by changing climatic conditions, ongoing climate change disrupts the fine-tuned local equilibrium. Higher temperatures induce shifts in developmental stages, with on the one hand increasing fears of spring frost damages and, on the other hand, ripening during the warmest periods in summer. Expected higher water demand and longer and more frequent drought events are also major concerns. The genetic control of the phenotypes, by genomic information but also by the epigenetic control of gene expression, offers a lot of opportunities for adapting the plant material to the future. For complex traits, genomic selection is also a promising method for predicting phenotypes. However, ecophysiological modelling is necessary to better anticipate the phenotypes in unexplored climatic conditions Genetic approaches applied on parameters of ecophysiological models rather than raw observed data are more than ever the basis for finding, or building, the ideal varieties of the future.