Aroma compounds involved in the fruity notes of red wines potentially adapted to climate change.

There is an urgent need in viticulture to adopt alternative herbicide-free soil management strategies to mitigate climate change, increase biodiversity, reduce plant protection products and improve soil quality while minimizing detrimental effects on grapevine’s stress tolerance and fruit quality. To propose sustainable solutions, adapted to different pedoclimatic conditions in Switzerland, we developed a multidisciplinary 4-year project, started in 2020. Objectives of the project are to a) evaluate the impact of green covers (spontaneous flora, winter cover crop and permanent ground cover) on environmental and agronomic parameters and b) develop subsequently innovative strategies for different viticultural contexts of Switzerland. The project is divided into 3 phases: 1) diagnosis, 2) on-farm and 3) on-station experiments. Phase 1) consisted in an assessment of 30 commercial vineyards all over Switzerland, where growers already use different herbicide-free soil management strategies. The most promising practices identified in this exploratory phase will be replicated in commercial vineyards across Switzerland (“on-farm”) as well as in a classical randomized block design in an experimental plot (“on-station”). For phase 1), measurements consisted in evaluation of soil status (compaction, structure, roots development), soil microbial diversity (metagenomics), plant diversity and biomass, vine physiology (water stress, vigor, leaf nitrogen) and berry quality (acidity, sugar, available nitrogen). Interestingly, the permanent ground cover resulted in a higher Shannon index thus a higher biodiversity as compared to the other itineraries. The winter cover crop increased vine nitrogen and vigor while deteriorating soil quality, leaving the soil more exposed and compacted likely due to more frequent tillage. The spontaneous flora led to higher berry sugar accumulation, less nitrogen and higher malic acid concentration putatively due to a higher water retention of the flora in a particularly wet vintage. Phases 2) and 3) are required to confirm those tendencies, over the 3 next vintages and different climatic conditions.

The Mediterranean climate of The Priorat AOC, situated behind the coastal mountain range of Tarragona, tends towards continentality with very little precipitation during the vegetation cycle. The soil is poor, dry and rocky, largely composed of slate schist, known as “llicorella”. Vines primarily grow on steep slopes and terraces.

In California vineyards, irrigation is considered as one of the most important decisions growers will make. Recent research has revealed that decisions of when to begin irrigation and how much water to apply have considerable consequences for final grape quality and hence wine quality. However, it is unclear whether and to what extent the average winegrape grower uses objective data to begin irrigating or to determine the amount of water to apply.

L’étude présentée porte sur une commune de l’Entre-Deux-Mers dans le bordelais. Nous caractérisons dans un premier temps les potentialités des sols vis-à-vis de la production de vins rouges de qualité (délimitation de terroirs grâce à la prise en compte des couvertures pédologiques et des caractéristiques morphométriques du terrain : pentes, expositions, convexités. Dans un second temps, nous récapitulons l’évolution historique des occupations des sols depuis 1790 : l’emplacement des vignes est ainsi localisé sur les terroirs respectifs des communes. Enfin, une étude prospective résultant d’enquêtes sur l’utilisation du foncier, situe le devenir prévisible de l’espace étudié (en particulier dans ses composantes viticoles et urbaines).

AIM: The appellation “Bianco di Custoza” or “Custoza”, born in 1971, is one of the oldest white wines Protected Designation of Origin in Italy.