Water status modelling: impact of local rainfall variability in Burgundy (France)

Del Barrio-Galán, R.a, b, Gómez-Parrini, A.a, Peña-Neira, A.b a Lallemand Inc. Chile y Compañía Limitada, Rosario Norte 407, piso 6, Las condes, Santiago, Chile b Department of Agro-Industry and Enology, Faculty of Agronomical Sciences, University of Chile, Post Office Box 1004, Santa Rosa 11315, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile It is well known that polysaccharides, mainly mannoproteins, play an important role on physical, chemical and sensory quality of wines. The ageing of white wines on lees is used in order to release higher amounts of polysaccharides by the autolytic processes in order to obtain higher-quality wines. However, this technique is too slow, because the temperature and pH conditions are not the most suitable for this process. In addition, it can also involve certain disadvantages such as a greater demand on winery resources, a longer period of wine storage, the appearance of reduction notes and some microbiological alterations.

The traditional methods of grape extraction of enochemical compounds use very often mechanical energy by pistons such as the pigeage or mechanical energy produced by must (delestage, pumping over). Recent trend by winemaker is trying to introduce in the fermentation tank, whole berry grape to avoid even minimal oxidation. Unfortunately, the use of the traditional mechanical techniques aforementioned, very often do not guarantee the optimal extraction with residual sugars in the marc. Use of resonance waves (airmixingtm) and a slight overpressure by CO2 (adcftm) permit to work on whole berry guaranteeing the perfect extraction.

A foresight study was carried out by a group of experts from INRAE, universities, INAO and FranceAgriMer from 2014 as part of the multidisciplinary “laccave” project intended to anticipate climate change in the French wine industry. The initial objective was to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers and to feed their questions in a more systemic way. The scenario development method made it possible to build possible futures for the wine sector in the face of climate change. It began by drafting four adaptation strategies, combining different possible intensities of innovation and relocation of the vineyard.

Promoting sustainable agricultural practices is one of the challenges of the last decades. Organic and biodynamic viticulture can be an alternative to intensive viticulture, furthermore contributing to reduction of impact on environment and human health and guaranteeing soil preservation and quality products1. The aim of this experimentation was to evaluate the medium and long-term effects of different agronomic practices in viticulture on nutrient availability and heavy metal accumulation in soil.

The nitrogen composition of the grapes directly affects the developments of alcoholic fermentation and influences the final aromatic composition of the wines. The aim of this study was to determine the effect and efficiency of foliar applications of urea on the nitrogen composition of grapes. This study was carried out during 2023 vintage and in the Chenin vineyard located in Estacion Experimental Mendoza (Argentina). Three urea concentrations 3, 6 and 9 Kg N/ha (C1, C2, and C3, respectively) and control (T) were applied in this vineyard at veraison.