Physiological response of new cultivars resistant to fungi confronted to drought in a semi-arid Mediterranean area

The SUSTAIN project aims at assessing the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and vulnerability in vineyard in a climate change scenario.

Canopy-management practices are applied in viticulture to improve berries composition and quality, having a great impact on primary and secondary grape metabolism. Among these techniques, cluster zone leaf removal (defoliation) is widely used to manage air circulation, temperature and light radiation of grape bunches and close environment. Since volatiles are quantitatively and qualitatively influenced by the degree of fruit ripeness, the level of solar exposure, and the thermal environment in which grapes ripen, leaf removal has been shown to affect volatile composition of grape berries [1].

Scientific information on grapevine response to predicted levels of climate parameters is scarce and not sufficient to properly position the Wine Industry for the future. It is critical that the combined effects of increased temperature and CO2 on grapevines should be examined, without omitting the important link to soil water conditions. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effects of envisioned changes in climatic parameters on the functioning and growth of young grafted grapevines under controlled conditions, simulating expected future climate changes. Scientific knowledge of precisely how the newly-planted grapevine will react morphologically, anatomically and physiologically (at leaf, root and whole plant level) to the expected changes in important climatic parameters will enable producers to make better-informed decisions regarding terroir, cultivar and rootstock choices as well as the adaptation of current cultivation practices.

The agro-ecological transition in winegrowing can benefit from the environmental assessment of practices to inform producers’ technical choices. life cycle assessment (lca) evaluates the environmental impact of a product over its entire life cycle. this paper takes a look at the tools available for the detailed assessment and eco-design of winegrowing practices, their uses and developments in the vitarbae research project (2023-2026). this project aims to establish and equip support and training courses for the agroecological transition in viticulture and fruit arboriculture.

The notion of terroir covers multiple components, from geology, pedology, geomorphology and climatology (Doledec, 1995), to aspects that are less well identified but which also intervene in the “typicality” of wines. This justifies the “zoning” approach (Moncomble and Panigaï, 1990) to define homogeneous areas, under the same agro-viticultural management and also identified at the product level (Morlat and Asselin, 1992).