Terroir 2016 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Irrigation and terroir: two opposite concepts? Point of view of international experts and french consumers

Irrigation and terroir: two opposite concepts? Point of view of international experts and french consumers

Abstract

At long term, qualitative irrigation seems to be the most systematic, if not the best, cultural practice for dealing with climate change and yield increases without decrease grape quality. Given this backdrop, the acceptance or irrigation within the frameworks of the terroir definition takes a central place. Consistently, the objective of this work is to evaluate this compatibility. Since irrigation is basically a social practice, it is important to understand it from a sociological point of view.

To meet this commitment, a qualitative questionnaire was implemented: standard personal interviews with no frequency (subject surveyed once) with a multi-topic research (omnibus research). 18 participants to the 19th GiESCO Meeting were selected as participants to the questionnaire. In a second instance, a quantitative questionnaire was evaluated: depth or intensive questionnaire with close-ended questions. In parallel, 512 French wine consumers participate to an Internet survey. This way, subject was approached from a twofold perspective: qualified researchers and French wine regular consumers.

Results show that surveyed expert seems to agree (in 63% of cases) with the idea of not changing a terroir by adding water under a controlled management of the water status in the vine. Level of agreement seems to be related with expert’s provenance and therefore expert’s observations in their local weather. Finally, concerning consumer’s approach, the level of implication in wine seems to play a role in accepting irrigation; consumers not implicated on wine don’t have a formed opinion whereas implicated consumers showed both; for and against a reasoned irrigation as a tool to deal against climate change. Moreover, within qualified consumers, age could serve for explaining the acceptance of irrigation: young (≤35 years old) and medium consumers (from 36 to 64 years old) were more likely to accept irrigation and a different grape variety to preserve wine quality.

Download the PDF

DOI:

Publication date: June 23, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2016

Type: Article

Authors

Santiago ALVAREZ GEI (1,2), Hernán OJEDA (1), Cécile COULON-LEROY (2)

(1) INRA, UE999 Pech Rouge, F-11430 Gruissan, France
(2) Unité GRAPPE, ESA, INRA, Comue UBL, 55 rue Rabelais BP 30748, F-49007 Angers, France

Keywords

Irrigation, Terroir, International experts, French consumers

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2016

Citation

Related articles…

Development of a novel UAV based approach for assessing the severity of spring frost and hail damages in vineyards

A solid feature of climate change is that the frequency and severity of weather extremes are increasing. Ranking European countries for the number of crop failures related to extreme events reports France on top followed by Italy and Spain (COM 2021).

Read More

Facteurs physiques et biologiques affectant la production viticole et vinicole de la région avec dénomination d’origine “Condado de Huelva” (SW d’Espagne)

Les facteurs physiques et biologiques du milieu naturel affectant la production viticole de la R.D.O. “Condado de Huelva” et quelques relations les concernant sont étudiés dans les systèmes de la production vinicole ; le bon fonctionnement du Vignoble ayant besoin par ailleurs, du concours d’autres facteurs (Reynier, 1989 ; Paneque et al., 1996, a,b).

Read More

Water and physiological response to early leaf removal of cv. Verdejo in rainfed conditions, at different times of the day, in the D.O. Rueda (Spain)

Aim: Early leaf removal, generally applied before flowering, is mostly conceived as a technique to control grape yield and improve the health of grapes and focused on the final objective of increasing wine quality.

Read More

Variabilité spatiale du gel printanier dans le vignoble champenois : application au zonage climatique

In the Champagne vineyards, spring frosts are the cause of significant variations in the volume of the harvest which are very penalizing for the trade. This variability is reflected both in time (years without frost alternating with years with severe frosts) and in space. Certain sectors of the vineyard are in fact statistically more susceptible to frost than others, but each year no municipality can consider itself immune to this climatic accident. The objective of the study is precisely to analyze the spatial distribution of frost and to determine its main mechanisms, linked to the topography of the hillsides, their orientation but also to regional meteorological variables.

Read More

Crown procyanidin quantification in red wines, rosé wines and Port wines

Condensed grape tannins play a major role in the organoleptic properties and quality of red wine. Recently, a new sub-family of macrocyclic condensed tannins has been identified in red wine and named “crown tannins”. Indeed, the first compound of the family identified and characterised by NMR was the crown procyanidin tetramer which is composed of a macrocyclic structure composed of four (-)-epicatechins link together by B-type interflavanoid linkage in the following an alternative sequences of C4-C8 and C4-C6 linkage. The 3D structure of this unusual crown procyanidin family reveals a central cavity in the molecule [1].

Read More