The grapevine QTLome is ripe: QTL survey, databasing, and first applications

Seven plots located in the commune of Montigny-lès-Arsures (Jura, 39), planted with grapevine varieties Trousseau and Savagnin, were chosen for a study of soil pits and a distribution of major and trace chemical elements in soils and wines. It was shown that the mineral matrix of the soil reflects the geological substratum and the sub-surface alteration process, while the organic soil matrix depends on agro-viticultural practices.

High-volume mass-market white wines production method by means of harvest-deferred fermentation from desulphited musts allows an efficient business management by avoiding the seasonality in wine sector.

According to OIV reports, annual world wine consumption fluctuated around 240-245 mln hL over the past decade. The general market globalization has led to the situation when almost half of the consumed wine is exported to other countries. Of this volume, more than 60 mln hL are bottled still and sparkling wines.

To evaluate the current and future impact of climate change on Viticulture requires an integrated view on a complex interacting system within the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum under continuous change. Aside of the globally observed increase in temperature in basically all viticulture regions for at least four decades, we observe several clear trends at the regional level in the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration. Additionally the recently published 6th assessment report of the IPCC (The physical science basis) shows case-dependent further expected shifts in climate patterns which will have substantial impacts on the way we will conduct viticulture in the decades to come.
Looking beyond climate developments, we observe rising temperatures in the upper soil layers which will have an impact on the distribution of microbial populations, the decay rate of organic matter or the storage capacity for carbon, thus affecting the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the viscosity of water in the soil-plant pathway, altering the transport of water. If the upper soil layers dry out faster due to less rainfall and/or increased evapotranspiration driven by higher temperatures, the spectral reflection properties of bare soil change and the transport of latent heat into the fruiting zone is increased putting a higher temperature load on the fruit. Interactions between micro-organisms in the rhizosphere and the grapevine root system are poorly understood but respond to environmental factors (such as increased soil temperatures) and the plant material (rootstock for instance), respectively the cultivation system (for example bio-organic versus conventional). This adds to an extremely complex system to manage in terms of increased resilience, adaptation to and even mitigation of climate change. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, effects on the individual expressions of wines with a given origin, seem highly likely to become more apparent.

The use of non-Saccharomyces yeast species for the improvement of wine technological and oenological properties is a topic that has gained much interest in recent years [1]. Their application as co-starter cultures sequential to the inoculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in aging on the lees has been shown to improve aspects such as protein stability and mouthfeel [2].