From the “climats de Bourgogne” to the terroir in bottles

Aims: Soils are an intrinsic feature of the landscape and have influenced culturally and economically important terroir delineation in many wine-producing regions of the world. Soil physiochemical properties govern a wide array of ecosystem services, and can therefore affect grapevine health and fruit development. These physiochemical properties can reflect a combination of factors,

Context and purpose of the study. Daylength is a key climatic factor within the terroir concept. However, the complex interplay of multiple variables in regions with varying daylengths makes it challenging to isolate and investigate this specific factor.

Since the arrival of Phyloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifolia) in Europe at the end of the 19th century, grafting has become essential to cultivate Vitis vinifera. Today, grafting provides not only resistance to this aphid, but it used to adapt the cultivars according to the type of soil, environment, or grape production requirements by using a panel of rootstocks. As part of vineyard decline, it is often mentioned the importance of producing quality grafted grapevine to improve vineyard longevity, but, to our knowledge, no study has been able to demonstrate that grafting has a role in this context. However, some scion/rootstock combinations are considered as incompatible due to poor graft union formation and subsequently high plant mortality soon after grafting. In a context of climate change where the creation of new cultivars and rootstocks is at the centre of research, the ability of new cultivars to be grafted is therefore essential. The early identification of graft incompatibility could allow the selection of non-viable plants before planting and would have a beneficial impact on research and development in the nursery sector. For this reason, our studies have focused on the identification of metabolic and transcriptomic markers of poor grafting success during the first days/week after grafting; we have identified some correlations between some specialized metabolites, especially stilbenes, and grafting success, as well as an accumulation of some amino acids in the incompatible combination. The study of the metabolome and the transcriptome allowed us to understand and characterise the processes involved during graft union formation.

Observational historical geology seeks to establish the evolutionary history of the surface of Earth. This approach is applicable not only to bedrock, but to the soft material that lies at the surface, the stuff called soil by most people. The geologic perspective provides a view of this material that is quite different from that of soil science, at least as practiced by many in America.

The quality of grapevines measured by yield and must density in the northern part of Europe conditons can be characterized as a type of “cool climate” – vary strongly from year to year and from one production site to another. One hundred year observations in Johannisberg from 1890 to 1991 demonstrate for the yield formation a clear dependancy from the year combined with a steady increase in productivity; latter a proof of positive clonal selection efforts.