Grape development revisited through the single-berry metabolomic clock paradigm

Vitis vinifera L. is the most widely cultivated Vitis species which includes numerous cultivars. Owing to their superior quality of grapes, these cultivars were long considered the only suitable for the production of fine wines. However, the lack of resistance genes in V. vinifera against major grapevine pathogens, requires for its cultivation frequent spraying with large amount of fungicides. Thus, the search for alternative and more sustainable methods to control the grapevine pathogens have brought the breeders to focus their attention on other Vitis species. In fact, wild Vitis genotypes present multiple resistance traits against pathogens, such as powdery mildew, downy mildew and phylloxera.

Franconia which is a “cool climate” winegrowing region is well known for its fruity white wines. The most common grape cultivars are Silvaner and Mueller-Thurgau.

Drought is considered to be the predominant factor both for determining the geographic distribution of vegetation and for restricting crop yields in agriculture. Furthermore

The studies developed by INRA and UV, in Angers, concern wine-growing areas and their optimized management, both from an agro-viticultural and oenological point of view. Previous work (Morlat, 1989) made it possible to give a scientific dimension to the concept of viticultural terroir and demonstrated the considerable influence of this production factor on the quality and typicity of wines (Asselin et al, 1992 ) . A methodology for the integrated characterization of terroirs, based on the “Basic Terroir Natural Unit” (considered as the smallest spatial unit of territory usable in practice, and in which the response of the vine is homogeneous), has been development (Riou et al , 1995).

At a time when the world’s winegrowing industry is having to adapt to a number of challenges, winegrowers are wondering about the consequent changes they will have to make (grape varieties, changes in vineyard and cellar techniques). For winegrowers and consumers alike, there is also the question of how these changes will affect the taste of their wines. This research, based on the study of numerous sources and archives from the 20th century, some of which have never been published before, aims to show that, in the recent past, the winegrowing world has shown incredible resilience in the face of crises, and that the taste and perception of fine wines has changed considerably in 100 years.