Terroir 2014 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Terroir Conferences 9 Terroir 2014 9 Grape growing soils, topographic diversity 9 Terroir influence on growth, grapes and grenache wines in the AOC priorat, northeast Spain

Terroir influence on growth, grapes and grenache wines in the AOC priorat, northeast Spain

Abstract

The Mediterranean climate of The Priorat AOC, situated behind the coastal mountain range of Tarragona, tends towards continentality with very little precipitation during the vegetation cycle. The soil is poor, dry and rocky, largely composed of slate schist, known as “llicorella”. Vines primarily grow on steep slopes and terraces.

To evaluate how the Priorat unique terroir influences the quality of its wines, two plots of Grenache were chosen, both grafted onto R110. In the study those two sites are referred to as: LO (in the township of Lloar) and EM (in the township of Molar), distinct topographic locations within the AOC. Grenache vines in LO are 14 years old growing in east-south facing terraces. Grenache vines in EM are 16 years old, and south-facing. Both vineyards feature VSP trellising with 2 wires (70cm height). The vines are pruned as bilateral cordon. During 2010 and 2011, leaf area (LA) at the phenological stages of pea size (PS), veraison (V), final ripening (RP) and post-harvest (PH) was measured. Berry phenolic maturity was monitored and the chemical analyses of the wine were carefully evaluated.

The 2010 vintage was characterized by a heterogenic distribution of rainfall and a lower vapor deficit pressure than 2011. Total leaf area (TLA) within parcels did not differ significantly in the temperate year. In the drier vintage, however, vines from LO developed more leaf area than those growing in the south-facing terraces at EM. Nevertheless, the total leaf area before harvest was similar. The heterogeneity in the soil profile at the LO location could likely induce a variation in the drainage capacity, affecting the vine growth (TLA). Small berries from EM produced the highest levels of anthocyanins. EM always has the highest content in ANT T, ANT E, IPT and DMACA in both years. Concerning the wines, the highest concentration of anthocyanin were found in the EM treatment, with greater differences that LO in 2010. Grenache vines growing under warm climate conditions (Priorat AOC), in heterogeneous-stony soils, showed notably variability in the wine composition in front of climate change.

DOI:

Publication date: July 31, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2014

Type: Article

Authors

Montserrat NADAL and Antoni SANCHEZ-ORTIZ

Dept Bioquímica i Biotecnologia, Facultat d’Enologia de Tarragona, URV. Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.

Contact the author

Keywords

Priorat, Grenache, vapor pressure deficit, stony soil, schist, phenolics

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2014

Citation

Related articles…

Influence of cork density upon cork stopper resiliency after opening a sparkling wine bottle

After Champagne popping, the first consumer’s observation is the shape of the cork stopper. Consumers expect a “mushroom shape”. Nevertheless, we sometimes observe a “barrel” shape due to inappropriate cork’s elastic properties. The aim of this study was to follow the loss of cork stopper resiliency during 26 months according to the density (d) of the cork in contact with the wine. 1680 disks were weighed + measured and divided in 6 density classes: High (H1 d= 0,19 g/cm3 – H2 d= 0,21 g/cm3), Medium (M, not studied) and Low (L1 d= 0,13 g/cm3 – L2 d= 0,14 g/cm3). Then, 138 technical cork stoppers were produced for each of the 4 studied groups. These corks consisted of an agglomerated natural cork granule body to which two natural cork disks were glued. A total of 552 bottles of sparkling wine were closed with these corks and open after 13, 19 and 26 months to follow cork resiliencies. Wine bottles were stored horizontally; thus, the external natural cork disks were in contact to the wine. During the 26 months of the study, highly significant differences (ANOVA) were observed between the resiliencies of H-corks and those of L-corks, whatever the time studied. The diameters of the L-corks were statistically higher than those of the H-corks. No significant differences were observed between L1 and L2 corks. At the opposite, differences were noted between H1 and H2 at 19 and 26 months. This could be explained by the heterogeneity of the resiliency that was higher for H-corks than for L-corks. Finally, the corks were visually (12 judges) divided in 3 classes corresponding to high (expected mushroom shape, i.e high resiliency), medium (irregular shape of the disk in contact with the wine and/or low premature deterioration of the expected resiliency) and low qualities (barrel shape = premature deterioration of the resiliency). The corks were also divided in 3 categories corresponding to 0-33%, 34-66% and 67-100% resiliency. A strong correlation was noted between the visual and the instrumental categorizations. This study strongly evidenced 1) the importance of the cork density on the cork stopper behaviour when opening the bottle and 2) the interest of an instrumental approach reflecting the consumer’s perception.

Delayed irrigation nearly doubles yield loss compared to anthocyanin gain in Southern Oregon Pinot noir

Irrigation initiation timing is a critical annual management decision that has cascading effects on grapevine productivity and wine quality.

Counting grape bunches using deep learning under different fruit and leaf occlusion conditions

Yield estimation is very important for the wine industry since provides useful information for vineyard and winery management. The early yield estimation of the grapevine provides information to winegrowers in making management decisions to achieve a better quantity and quality of grapes. In general, yield forecasts are based on destructive sampling of bunches and manual counting of berries per bunch and bunches per vine.

Insights from selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) and chemometrics applied to the quick discrimination of grapevine varieties

Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is an innovative analytical method based on soft chemical ionization to analyze thecomposition in volatile compounds of a gas phase

Greffadapt: a relevant experimental vineyard to speed up the selection of grapevine rootstocks

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.20.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...