Origin of unpleasant smelling sulphur compounds during wine fermentation

Double cropping is a novel technique, driven by the extension of the growing season caused by global warming.

Irrigation is an essential tool for grape production, especially where rainfall does not meet the optimal water requirements needed to achieve yield and quality targets. Increased evaporative demand of grapevines due to changing climate conditions, and a growing awareness for sustainable farming, require the improvement of irrigation techniques to maximize water use efficiency, i.e. using less water to achieve the same yields or the same water but larger yields. In this study, the performance of Cabernet Sauvignon vines was compared under three irrigation techniques: conventional aboveground drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation installed directly under the vine row, and partial rootzone drying in which two subsurface lines were buried in the middle of the two interrow spacings on each side of the vine row with irrigation alternated between the two lines based on soil moisture content.

Aim: Among Botryosphaeriaceae species associated with Botryosphaeria dieback of grapevines, Neofusicoccum parvum is one of the most virulent and fastest wood-colonizing fungi. This study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of six red grapevine cultivars (“Bobal”, “Monastrell”, “Garnacha Tinta”, “Moravia Agria”, “Tinto Velasco” and “Moribel” to N. parvum, under field conditions.

Water is the main limiting factor for yield in viticulture. Improving drought adaptation in viticulture will be an increasingly important issue under climate change. Genetic variability of water deficit responses in grapevine partly results from the rootstocks, making them an attractive and relevant mean to achieve adaptation without changing the scion genotype. The objective of this work was to characterize the rootstock effect on the diurnal regulation of scion transpiration. A large panel of 55 commercial genotypes were grafted onto Cabernet Sauvignon. Three biological repetitions per genotype were analyzed. Potted plants were phenotyped on a greenhouse balance platform capable of assessing real-time water use and maintaining a targeted water deficit intensity. After a 10 days well-watered baseline period, an increasing water deficit was applied for 10 days, followed by a stable water deficit stress for 7 days. Pruning weight, root and aerial dry weight and transpiration were recorded and the experiment was repeated during two years. Transpiration efficiency (ratio between aerial biomass and transpiration) was calculated and δ13C was measured in leaves for the baseline and stable water deficit periods. A large genetic variability was observed within the panel. The rootstock had a significant impact on nocturnal transpiration which was also strongly and positively correlated with maximum daytime transpiration. The correlations with growth and water use efficiency related traits will be discussed. Transpiration data were also related with VPD and soil water content demonstrating the influence of environmental conditions on transpiration. These results highlighted the role of the rootstock in modulating water deficit responses and give insights for rootstock breeding programs aimed at identifying drought tolerant rootstocks. It was also helpful to better define the mechanisms on which the drought tolerance in grapevine rootstocks is based on.

The “Anjou Terroirs” programme aims at bringing the necessary scientific basis for a ratio­nal and reasoned exploitation of the technical itinerary of the terroir. The scale study is 1/12500. For the mapping, many parameters, such as the granulometry or the depth of soil are observed to each point of caracterisation.