“Vinhos de mesa” et oenophilie : quand les caractéristiques organoleptiques des cépages américains empêchent l’intégration des consommateurs à l’univers de l’appréciation esthétique

Performing accurate vineyard yield estimation is of upmost importance as it provides important benefits to the whole vine and wine industry. Recently, image-analysis approaches have been explored to address this issue however this approach has as main challenge the bunch occlusion, mostly by vegetation but also by neighboring bunches. The present work aims at assessing the magnitude of bunch occlusion by neighboring bunches and to evaluate its dependency on a selection of vegetative and reproductive vine parameters assessed at fruiting zone. Forty vine segments (1 m) of two vineyard plots of the white cultivars ‘Alvarinho’ and ‘Arinto’ were assessed for vegetative and reproductive features at fruiting zone and imaged with a 2D camera.

Climate change effects in Languedoc include an expected rise in temperatures, increased evapotranspiration as well as more severe and frequent climatic hazards, such as frost, drought periods and heat waves. For winegrowers theses phenomena impact both yield and quality, resulting in more frequent unbalanced wines. Research on identified mitigation tools for vineyard management is necessary to improve resilience of grapevine agrosystems. Varietal assortment is one of them. This study focuses on agronomic and oenologic potential of 14 foreign varieties grown in Languedoc French region. Fourteen grapevine varieties were monitored during 2021 from June until harvest on eight different sites, some of which occurring on more than one site adding up to 21 different modalities: 7 white varieties Alvarinho B, Assyrtiko B (2), Malvasia Istriana B, Parellada B, Verdejo B, Verdelho B, Xarello B, and 7 black varieties Saperavi N (2), Touriga nacional N, Baga N, Aleatico N, Montepulciano N (2), Primitivo N (3), Calabrese N (3). Varietals were compared through the following parameters: phenology was assessed by using the information collected in the Database Network of French Vine Conservatories (INRAE-SupAgro-IFV, 2005-2015). The number of inflorescences for shoots from secondary buds and bourillons and suckers were observed to assess post-bud break frost tolerance potential. Grapevine water status was studied through stem water potential measurement, observation of foliage symptoms of drought, and 𝛿13C on must. Frequencies and intensities of downy mildew, powdery mildew, and black rot attacks were estimated before harvest on leaves and clusters and botrytis at harvest to assess disease susceptibilities. Berry composition was monitored from end of veraison until harvest. Yield and mean bunch weight were also calculated. Varieties were then ranked on a 1-4 scale for each parameter and compared through PCA. Forty two stations of the Mediterranean basin were compared by PCA with the Multicriteria Climatic Classification indicators in order to confront the collected information during 2021 campaign to the hypothesis that plants coming from dry and hot regions are genetically adapted to such climatic conditions.

Terroir is about the link between wine and its origin. It has long been understood by sensory evaluation that the taste of wine from a given variety can be related to its origins. Specific organoleptic characteristics of wine are influenced by environmental factors such as soil and climate. By deconstructing the effect of measurable soil and climate parameters on grape and wine aroma compounds,

In a context of sustainable agriculture, “agroecological immunity” is an emerging concept to reduce the use of chemical pesticides to protect crops against pathogens. This alternative strategy aims to combine different levers including the use of “bio”solutions. These include biocontrol products, some of which being plant defense elicitors, as well as products authorized in organic farming such as copper or sulfur. In vineyards, depending on climate conditions, powdery and downy mildews can be devastating diseases.

Wine aroma quality is a complex interplay of factors like terroir, vinification techniques, that modulate aroma compound composition.