Terroir 2016 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The “resources profile®”: a relevant decision and support system for adapting viticultural practices to soils agronomic properties and limiting their environmental impacts

The “resources profile®”: a relevant decision and support system for adapting viticultural practices to soils agronomic properties and limiting their environmental impacts

Abstract

Soil is a three-dimensional complex system, which constitutes a major component of Terroir. Soil characteristics strongly influence vine development, grape oenological potentialities and thus wine quality and style.

Soil profile description by means of pits is essential for a relevant characterization of the soil. However, the interpretation of results is very difficult for non-specialists, as for most of advisors or winegrowers, due to the multitude of parameters and their variability within the soil profile.

We propose here a novel method to represent soil parameters variability, integrating thickness and depth of the different horizons, providing an operational Decision and Support System (DSS) for winegrowers and advisors.

For each parameter, soil profile is represented by a vertical block divided in 10 centimeters layers, in order to highlight the thickness of the different horizons. According to the parameter value, a specific color code, based on analytical references, is applied for each horizon. This method has been applied on different soil parameters : coarse fragments content, clay content, slaking and compaction index, carbonate content, pH, organic content and stock, carbon/nitrogen ratio, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable cations contents, base saturation percentage.

This method, called « Resources Profile® », has been tested on a large number of soil types, representative of soils variability in Bordeaux wine production area (France). It allows to easily visualize soil parameters variability within soil profile and to evaluate agronomic properties, such as hydrological soil properties, organic and calcic status, mineral resources or degradation sensitivities.

We believe that the « Resources Profile® » is a relevant DSS for adapting viticultural practices to soils characteristics and for limiting their environmental impacts. This DSS is likely to facilitate the spread of soil science knowledge to the vinegrowing industry.

DOI:

Publication date: June 23, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2016

Type: Article

Authors

M Christen (1), L Cazenave (1), M Guinoiseau (1), E Beauquesne (2), P Guilbault (1)

(1) Chambre d’Agriculture de la Gironde – Vinopôle Bordeaux-Aquitaine, 39 rue Michel Montaigne – CS 20115 33295 Blanquefort Cedex, France
(2) AUREA Agrosciences, 39 rue Michel Montaigne – CS 20115, 33295 Blanquefort Cedex, France

Contact the author

Keywords

winegrowing soils, soil profiles, soil horizons, soil analysis, agronomic properties, viticultural practices, Decision and Support System

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2016

Citation

Related articles…

Relationships between berry quality and climatic variability in grapevine cultivars from Piedmont

A major topic in viticultural research is the analysis of the relationships between climate on one side, and grape and wine quality on the other. It is well known that climatic conditions

Il monitoraggio meteorologico come strumento per la gestione della variabilità climatica in Franciacorta

Nel 2007 è stata avviata una ricerca nell’areale di produzione del Franciacorta DOCG che ha riguardato un ampio numero di vigneti di Chardonnay con riferimento ai quali sono stati acquisite

Biotype diversity within the autochthonous ‘Bobal’ grapevine variety

Bobal is the second most widely grown Spanish red grape variety (54,165 has), mainly cultivated in the Valencian Community and especially, in Utiel-Requena region (about 67% of 34,000 has). In this study, agronomic and enological parameters were determined in 98 biotypes selected during 2018 and 2019 in more than 50 vineyards over 50 years-old in the Utiel-Requena region. Moreover, a multi-criteria approach considering temperature and rainfall (Fig. 1A), among other parameters, was made to establish three different zones within the region (Fig. 1B), where in the future the selected biotypes will evaluated. In fact, in 2020, 4 replicates and 12 vines per biotype were planted in an experimental vineyard to preserve this important intra-cultivar diversity.

Comparison of aroma-related compounds of carbonic maceration and traditional young red winemaking in case of Merlot by means of targeted metabolomic approach

Winemaking decisions and techniques are known to affect the final aromatic composition of red wines. Winemakers put a constant effort into the improved controlling of vinification procedures to achieve better quality. Anyway an increased customer’s demand for uniqueness is often forcing them to adjust and offer new and new interesting products. To support the producers, an improved knowledge on aromatic potential as affected by classical and alternative strategies is needed.

Accumulation of polyphenols in Barbera and Nebbiolo leaves during the vegetative season

Grapevine berries produce thousands of secondary metabolites of diverse chemical nature that have been largely detailed in the past due to their importance for defining wine quality. The wide Vitis vinifera diversity, resulting in thousands of different varieties well detailed in many studies regarding berries, is still not investigated in vegetative organs, leaves in particular. Deepening knowledge related to this aspect could be of great interest for many reasons (for example the possibility of using leaf extract for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and nutrition purposes) but, above all, for understanding the susceptibility of different grapevine varieties to pathogens.