GiESCO 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 GiESCO 9 GiESCO 2019 9 Crop load management of newly planted Pinot gris grown in warm climate of California

Crop load management of newly planted Pinot gris grown in warm climate of California

Abstract

Context and purpose of the study – San Joaquin Valley accounts for 68% of Pinot gris acreage and produces 83% of Pinot gris wine in California. Strong demand for Pinot gris has prompted growers to restrict the nonbearing period to less than two years, if possible. This requires permanent vine structure establishment the first year with a crop expected in the second year. Precocious cropping raises the risk of overcropping with possible carry-over effects in subsequent years. To identify the optimum crop level and economic threshold for newly planted Pinot gris vines, a field trial was initiated in a commercial vineyard in 2016.  

Materials and methods – Bench grafted Pinot gris vines with Freedom rootstocks were planted in February of 2015. Quadrilateral cordons were established in the same year aiming for the first crop in 2016. Randomized complete block design was set up with four levels of inflorescence thinning in the spring of 2016, and each treatment was replicated in 5 times. Inflorescences were hand thinned approximately 3 weeks pre-bloom. No thinning was applied after 2016, but data were still collected to study the potential carry-over effect in 2017 and 2018. Four treatments included: 1) all fruit removed (0 cluster per shoot); 2) one cluster per two shoots; 3) one cluster per shoot; 4) no fruit removed. Five vines in each block were labeled as data vines and yield components, pruning weight and fruit chemistry were collected in 2016, 2017 and 2018.  

Results – inflorescence removal increased fruit set, average berry weight, and soluble solids in 2016. Increased cluster compaction on thinned vines did not cause excessive bunch rot, but did partially compensate for the potential yield loss associated with inflorescence removal. Yield in 2016 was reduced by 6%, 28% and 100% with the severity of inflorescence removal. No thinning was performed in 2017 and 2018, but yield, fruit chemistry, and pruning weight were still measured. The Ravaz Index (RI) from treatment of one inflorescence per two shoots was 8.3 in 2016 and vines in that treatment had the highest accumulated yield across 2016 and 2017. Vines with RI > 12 showed significant delayed sugar accumulation in 2016 and reduced yields in 2017. Thus, newly planted vines with an RI> 12 in their first crop year were overcropped and will likely see reduced yields the following year, whereas vines with RI of approximate 10 provide maximum yield without affecting fruit chemistry and the following year’s crop. In 2018, yield and fruit chemistry were monitored as well, however no difference has been found across various treatments. 

DOI:

Publication date: June 18, 2020

Issue: GiESCO 2019

Type: Poster

Authors

Shijian ZHUANG1, Kaan KURTURAL2, Matthew FIDELIBUS2

(1) University of California Cooperative Extension, Fresno County
(2) Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California at Davis

Contact the author

Keywords

Pinot gris, Crop load, Carry-over, Newly planted vine

Tags

GiESCO | GiESCO 2019 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

From a local to an international scale: sensory benchmarking of PDO wines. Quincy and Reuilly PDO wines (Sauvignon blanc) as a case study (France)

In a collective marketing strategy, the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) can be used as a quality indicator. To highlight terroir specificities, it is useful to know how the wines are positioned on the local, national or international market from a sensory point of view. This is especially true for a comparison of varietal wines (e.g. Sauvignon blanc). We focus on the case of two closed Loire Valley PDO (France): Quincy and Reuilly. Three distinct tastings were organized. Firstly, at the local level comparing the 2 PDO (11 and 9 wines, 17 professional assessors); secondly at a regional level adding 3 closed PDO: Menetou-Salon, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé (3 wines per PDO, 16 assessors) and thirdly at an international level comparing these 5 PDO with Sauvignon Blanc wines coming from South Africa, New Zealand and Chile (1 to 3 wines per PDO, 19 assessors). All the wines were from the 2019 vintage and were considered to have a traditional elaboration process without contact with oak. A sensory descriptive analysis was performed using an aroma wheel allowing to combine a Check-All-That-Apply methodology, often used in sensory benchmarking, with a hierarchical structuration of the attributes. The aim is to facilitate data acquisition in a professional context without common training, to consider the hierarchical relationships among the attributes during the data analysis and to be able to characterize wines with a large range of sensorial variability. We use univariate, multivariate and clustering analyses. Similarities and differences between Quincy and Reuilly PDO wines and other Sauvignon blanc wines were identified. Specific attributes can distinguish the two PDO and different proximities exist with other local PDO, while clear differences were observed compared to international wines. Our study contributes to propose and discuss a method to do a wine sensory benchmarking highlighting sensory specificities linked to origin.

Climate modeling at local scale in the Waipara winegrowing region in the climate change context

In viticulture, a warming climate can have a very significant impact on grapevine development and therefore on the quality and characteristics of wines across different spatial scales, ranging from global to local. In order to adapt wine-growing to climate change, global climate models can be used to define future scenarios, but only at the scale of major wine regions. Despite the huge progress made over the last ten years in terms of the spatial resolution of climate models (now downscaled to a few square kilometres), they are not yet sufficiently precise to account for the local climate variability associated with such parameters as local topography, in spite of these parameters being decisive for vine and wine characteristics. This study describes a method to downscale future climate scenarios to vineyard scale. Networks of data loggers have been used to collect air temperature at canopy level in the Waipara winegrowing region (New Zealand) over five growing seasons. These measurements allow the creation of fine-scale geostatistical models and maps of temperature (at 100 m resolution) for the growing season. In order to model climate change at pilot site scale, these geostatistical models have been combined with regional climate change predictions for the periods 2031-2050 and 2081-2100 based on the RCP8.5 climate change scenario. The integration of local climate variability with regionalized climate change simulations allows assessment of the impacts of climate change at the vineyard scale. The improved knowledge gained using this methodology results from the increased horizontal resolution that better addresses the concerns of winegrowers. The results provide the local winegrowers with information necessary to understand current processes, as well as historical and future viticulture trends at the scale of their site, thereby facilitating decisions about future response strategies.

austrianvineyards.com: online viewer of all designations of Austrian wine

To digitally record and present all the origins of Austrian wines in the same perfect and clear way was the motivation for the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (Austrian Wine) to start with the project in 2018. In June 2021 the results were presented to the public in an online viewer showing all the designations of Austrian wine, available at https://austrianvineyards.com in a largely barrier-free manner. The online viewer provides tailored individual maps fitted to the respective zoom level. The smallest unit of wine-origins in Austria is called Ried and is displayed in a plot-specific manner highlighting areas under vine. Information on the Ried include administrative district, winegrowing municipality, cadastral municipality, large collective vineyard site, specific winegrowing region, generic winegrowing region, winegrowing area and, in many cases, an illustrative picture. Complementary data on the size, elevation (minimum-maximum), orientation (in 8 sectors plus flat) and gradient (minimum, maximum, average) are based on the area under vine according to the EU’s Integrated Administration and Control System. Additional information covers climate data. The diagrams are taken from the monthly breakdown of data in the annals of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Austria provide a display of values for air temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours for the reference year and the long-term average. Seasonal aggregated data on temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours complete the display. Short descriptions with emphasis on geology and soil, field name in historical maps, etymology of the denomination, and main planted variety complements the available information for the main designations in the online viewer. These descriptions are compiled by winegrowers, geologists, historians, and journalists. All the information and data can be extracted to a pdf-file. Printed vineyard maps are also available. Missing content regarding wine origins in Styria will be completed in winter 2021/22.

Short-term relationships between climate and grapevine trunk diseases in southern French vineyards

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...

Revealing the Barossa zone sub-divisions through sensory and chemical analysis of Shiraz wine

The Barossa zone is arguably one of the most well-recognised wine producing regions in Australia and internationally; known mainly for the production of its distinct Shiraz wines. However, within the broad Barossa geographical delimitation, a variation in terroir can be perceived and is expressed as sensorial and chemical profile differences between wines. This study aimed to explore the sub-division classification across the Barossa region using chemical and sensory measurements. Shiraz grapes from 4 different vintages and different vineyards across the Barossa (2018, n = 69; 2019, n = 72; 2020, n = 79; 2021, n = 64) were harvested and made using a standardised small lot winemaking procedure. The analysis involved a sensory descriptive analysis with a highly trained panel and chemical measurement including basic chemistry (e.g. pH, TA, alcohol content, total SO2), phenolic composition, volatile compounds, metals, proline, and polysaccharides. The datasets were combined and analysed through an unsupervised, clustering analysis. Firstly, each vintage was considered separately to investigate any vintage to vintage variation. The datasets were then combined and analysed as a whole. The number of sub-divisions based on the measurements were identified and characterised with their sensory and chemical profile and some consistencies were seen between the vintages. Preliminary analysis of the sensory results showed that in most vintages, two major groups could be identified characterised with one group showing a fruit-forward profile and another displaying savoury and cooked vegetables characters. The exploration of distinct profiles arising from the Barossa wine producing region will provide producers with valuable information about the regional potential of their wine assisting with tools to increase their target market and reputation. This study will also provide a robust and comprehensive basis to determine the distinctive terroir characteristics which exist within the Barossa wine producing region.