Terroir 2016 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Microclimatic differences in fruit zone of vineyards on different elevations of ‘nagy-eged hill’ in eger wine region, Hungary

Microclimatic differences in fruit zone of vineyards on different elevations of ‘nagy-eged hill’ in eger wine region, Hungary

Abstract

The Bull’s Blood of Eger (‘Egri Bikavér’) is one of the most reputed red wines in Hungary and abroad, produced in the Northeastern part of the country. It is known as a ruby blended, full bodied red wine with fruity and aged character. Vitis vinifera L. Kékfrankos (Blaufränkisch) is the base component of the ‘Egri Bikavér’, beside it is the most abundant red grape cultivar of the region and of Hungary. It is grown in many vineyards along the wine region resulting in different wine quality and style depending on slope, elevation, aspect, soil and microclimatic conditions.

Several attempts using GIS technics have been made recently to characterize the most important growing sites in the wine region concerning topographical, soil and climatic conditions. Data of automatic meteorological weather stations located in the vineyards, E-OBS gridded database and the PRECIS regional climate model was also used to better understand the suitability of the vineyards for Kékfrankos quality wine production.

In the present study, we described with a fine scale measurement the fruit zone microclimate (temperature, relative humidity) in three vineyards differing in their elevation on the emblematic ‘Nagy-Eged hill with EasyLog EL USB-2+ temperature and humidity sensors (Lascar Electronics, UK). The elevation of Nagy-Eged hill lower part [NEL] is 294 m, Nagy-Eged hill middle [NEM] is 332 m and Nagy-Eged hill top [NET] is 482 m above sea level. Measurements were taken in 2015 July-October. Mathematical calculation of multiple comparison, i.e. Marascuillo’s procedure was used to distinguish microclimatic differences among different elevations. Day and night time data were separately analyzed.

Concerning the temperature data of Nagy-Eged Hill, we may suppose that the effect of a thermal belt was the principal factor influencing fruit zone temperature, since the warmest area (especially at night) was the middle part of the hill, although the upper part is far steeper, therefore it could receive more solar radiant heat than the others. Soil is richer in gravels, stones on the top of the hill and in the middle part, but the re-radiation heating effect did not exceed that of thermal belt.
Due to the moving of cooler air masses towards the lower part of a valley and the lower wind speed, the air surrounding the vines gets more humid in most part of the growing season. The advantage of dryer air conditions in the middle and top positions of the hill may be benefited by using environmental friendly cultivation technology with less pesticides.
Climate change is a challenge at the Nagy-Eged Hill not only for temperature increase and water shortage, but also for heavy, irregular precipitation that results in serious erosion problem.

DOI:

Publication date: June 23, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2016

Type: Article

Authors

Borbála BÁLO (1), Márta LADÁNYI (2), Nikoletta SZOBONYA (1), Péter BODOR (1),Tamás DEÁK, György Dénes BISZTRAY (1)

(1) Department of Viticulture, Szent István University, Budapest, Hungary
(2) Department of Biometrics and Agricultural Informatics, Szent István University,Budapest, Hungary

Contact the author

Keywords

terroir, slope, fruit zone, temperature, humidity, thermal belt

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2016

Citation

Related articles…

Impact of geographical location on the phenolic profile of minority varieties grown in Spain. II: red grapevines

Because terroir and cultivar are drivers of wine quality, is essential to investigate theirs effects on polyphenolic profile before promoting the implantation of a red minority variety in a specific area. This work, included in MINORVIN project, focuses in the polyphenolic profile of 7 red grapevines minority varieties of Vitis vinifera L. (Morate, Sanguina, Santafe, Terriza Tinta Jeromo Tortozona Tinta) and Tempranillo) from six typical viticulture Spanish areas: Aragón (A1), Cataluña (A2), Castilla la Mancha (A3), Castilla –León (A4), Madrid (A5) and Navarra (A6) of 2020 season. Polyphenolic substances were extracted from grapes. 35 compounds were identified and quantified (mg subtance/kg fresh berry) by HPLC and grouped in anthocyanins (ANT) flavanols (FLAVA), flavonols (FLAVO), hydroxycinnamic (AH), benzoic (BA) acids and stilbenes (ST). Antioxidant activity (AA, mmol TE /g fresh berry) was determined by DPPH method. The results were submitted to a two-way ANOVA to investigate the influence of variety, area and their interaction for each polyphenolic family and cluster analysis was used to construct hierarchical dendrograms, searching the natural groupings among the samples. Sanguina (A3) had the most of total polyphenols while Tempranillo (A5) those of ANT. Sanguina (A2) and (A3) reached the highest values of FLAVO, FLAVA and AA. These two last samples had also the maximum of AA. The effect cultivar and area were significant for all polyphenolic families analyzed. A high variability due to variety (>50%) was observed in FLAVA and the maximum value of variability due to growing area was detected in AA (86.41%), ANT and FLAVO (51%); the interaction variety*zone was significant only for ANT, FLAVO, EST and AA. Finally, dendrograms presented five cluster: i) Sanguina (A2); ii) Sanguina (A3); iii) Tempranillo (A5); iv) Tempranillo (A3); Terriza (A3,A5), Morate (A5,A6); v) Santafé (A1,A6); Tortozona tinta (A1,A3,A6); Tinta Jeromo (A3,A4).

Current climate change in the Oplenac wine-growing district (Serbia)

Serbian autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka (for white wines) and Prokupac (for rosé and red wines) are the primary representatives of typical characteristics of wines and terroir of numerous wine-growing areas in Serbia. In the past, these varieties were the leading vine varieties, however, as the result of globalization of winemaking and the trend of consumption of wines from widely prevalent vine varieties, they were replaced by introduced international varieties. Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties are characterized by later time of grape ripening, and relative sensitivity to low temperatures. Climate conditions can be a restrictive factor for production of high-quality grapes and wine and for the spatial spreading of these varieties in hilly continental wine-growing areas.
This paper focuses on the spatial analysis of changes of main climate parameters, in particular, analysis of viticultural bioclimatic indices that were determined for the purposes of viticulture zoning of wine-growing areas in the period 1961-2010, and those same parameters determined for the current, that is, referential climate period (1988-2017). Results of the research, that is, analysis of climate changes indicate that the majority of examined climate parameters in the Oplenac wine-growing district improved from the perspective of Smederevka and Prokupac vine varieties. These studies of climate conditions indicate that changes of analyzed climate parameters, that is, bioclimatic indices will be favorable for cultivation of varieties with later grape ripening times and those more sensitive to low temperatures, such as the autochthonous vine varieties Smederevka and Prokupac, therefore, it is recommended to producers to more actively plant vineyards with these varieties in the territory of the Oplenac wine-growing district.

Permanent cover cropping with reduced tillage increased resiliency of wine grape vineyards to climate change

Majority of California’s vineyards rely on supplemental irrigation to overcome abiotic stressors. In the context of climate change, increases in growing season temperatures and crop evapotranspiration pose a risk to adaptation of viticulture to climate change. Vineyard cover crops may mitigate soil erosion and preserve water resources; but there is a lack of information on how they contribute to vineyard resiliency under tillage systems. The aim of this study was to identify the optimum combination of cover crop sand tillage without adversely affecting productivity while preserving plant water status. Two experiments in two contrasting climatic regions were conducted with two cover crops, including a permanent short stature grass (P. bulbosa hybrid), barley (Hordeum spp), and resident vegetation under till vs. no-till systems in a Ruby Cabernet (V. vinifera spp.) (Fresno) and a Cabernet Sauvingon (Napa) vineyard. Results indicated that permanent grass under no-till preserved plant available water until E-L stage 17. Consequently, net carbon assimilation of the permanent grass under no-till system was enhanced compared to those with barley and resident vegetation. On the other hand, the barley under no-till system reduced grapevine net carbon assimilation during berry ripening that led to lower content of nonstructural carbohydrates in shoots at dormancy. Components of yield and berry composition including flavonoid profile at either site were not adversely affected by factors studied. Switching to a permanent cover crop under a no-till system also provided a 9% and 3% benefit in cultural practices costs in Fresno and Napa, respectively. The results of this work provides fundamental information to growers in preserving resiliency of vineyard systems in hot and warm climate regions under context of climate change.

Variations of soil attributes in vineyards influence their reflectance spectra

Knowledge on the reflectance spectrum of soil is potentially useful since it carries information on soil chemical composition that can be used to the planning of agricultural practices. If compared with analytical methods such as conventional chemical analysis, reflectance measurement provides non-destructive, economic, near real-time data. This paper reports results from reflectance measurements performed by spectroradiometry on soils from two vineyards in south Brazil. The vineyards are close to each other, are on different geological formations, but were subjected to the same management. The objective was to detect spectral differences between the two areas, correlating these differences to variations in their chemical composition, to assess the technique’s potential to predict soil attributes from reflectance data.To that end, soil samples were collected from ten selected vine parcels. Chemical analysis yield data on concentration of twenty-one soil attributes, and spectroradiometry was performed on samples. Chemical differences significant to a 95% confidence level between the two studied areas were found for six soil attributes, and the average reflectance spectra were separated by this same level along most of the observed spectral domain. Correlations between soil reflectance and concentrations of soil attributes were looked for, and for ten soil traits it was possible to define wavelength domains were reflectance and concentrations are correlated to confidence levels from 95% to 99%. Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) analyses were performed comparing measured and predicted concentrations, and for fifteen out of 21 soil traits we found Pearson correlation coefficients r > 0.8. These preliminary results, which have to be validated, suggest that variations of concentration in the investigated soil attributes induce differences in reflectance that can be detected by spectroradiometry. Applications of these observations include the assessment of the chemical content of soils by spectroradiometry as a fast, low-cost alternative to chemical analytical methods.

Influence of climatic conditions on grape composition of Tempranillo in La Mancha DO (Spain)

The aim of this work was to analyze the variability in grape composition of the Tempranillo cultivar related to climatic conditions, in La Mancha Designation of Origin. Grape composition (sugar content, total acidity, pH, malic acid, and total and extractable anthocyanins) recorded during ripening, were analysed for the period 2000-2019. The weather conditions at daily time scale, recorded during the same period, were also evaluated. The relationships between grape parameters with climatic variables related to temperature and to water deficits, referring different periods between phenological events along the growing cycle, were evaluated using regression analysis. High variability in grape composition was observed in the period analysed. Total acidity varied between 3.7 and 7.3 gL-1 while malic acid varied between 1.2 and 4 gL-1. The extractable anthocyanins ranged between 526 and 972 mgL-1, and total anthocyanins ranged between 922 and 1388 mgL-1, being the lowest values recorded in the hottest year (2017). Total acidity decreased 0.77 gL-1 for an increase of 100 GDD, while malic acid decrease in 0.42 gL-1 for the same GDD increase, being the period between veraison and harvest the one that seemed to have higher influence on acidity. In addition, it was confirmed that increasing water deficits decreased acidity. Total and extractable anthocyanins increased in about 210 and 105 mgL-1, respectively, with an increase of 100 GDD from veraison to harvest, and the increase in water deficits favour the increase of anthocyanins, both total and extractable anthocyanins. Total and extractable anthocyanins concentration increased in 35 and 22 mgL-1 per an increase of 10 mm in the water deficit. These results can be of interest to understand the potential changes that grapes composition may suffer under future warmer climates.