Terroir 2012 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Typology of Terroirs around the world

Typology of Terroirs around the world

Abstract

It seems implausible that the geographical development of the vineyards could have been affected by a shift in the positions of the Earth’continents that started 250 million years ago. At one end of the geological timescale there are landscapes shaped by men, at the other, there are monumental upheavals so slow that they defy the imagination. In fact, the succession of landslides, collisions, eruptions, and subductions that marked the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras and the Tertiary period was indeed the original source of the rocks and great masses that were then chiseled into shape 2 million years ago, at the start of the Quaternary period, to form the wine-growing landscapes that we see today. The study of these different phenomena allows to offer a classification, a typography of vitivinicultural terroirs across the world according to the history of geology and geomorphology of the different vitivinicultural areas.

DOI:

Publication date: August 26, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2012

Type: Article

Authors

Jacques FANET

Mas d’Arlenques 3 chemin des Combes d’Arlenques 34800 ASPIRAN – FRANCE

Contact the author

Keywords

Continental drift, geology, geomorphology, terroir

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2012

Citation

Related articles…

Wine labelling with the list of ingredients: context, consumer’s perception and future challenges

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2024, Stéphane La Guerche (Œnoppia, Paris, France) speaks about wine labelling with the list of ingredients: context, consumer’s perception and future challenges. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on IVES Technical Reviews.

New disease-resistant grapevine varieties response to drought under a semi-arid climate

In many regions, climate change leads to an increase in air temperature combined with a reduction of rainfall, intensifying climatic demand and water deficits (WD) (Cardell et al. 2019), which in turn may negatively impact grapevine development, yield and grape composition (Santos et al. 2020). In addition, climate change may also increase disease pressure, leading to further yield and quality losses, besides increasing costs due to increased vineyard spraying (Santos et al. 2020) and reducing viticulture acceptability by consumers (Guichard et al. 2017). Adopting new resistant varieties appears as a promising long-term solution to better manage vine protection, but unfortunately little is known regarding their behavior in front of WD.

Nitrogen status of vines influences aged wines aromas. Examples of aged Champagne reserve wines and red Bordeaux wines

The sensory definition of the aging bouquet of red Bordeaux wines has been shown to be structured around seven main aromatic nuances: “undergrowth”, “spicy” “truffle”, “fresh red- and black-berry fruits”, “liquorice”, “mint”, and “toasted” (1). Some of these descriptors are also used to describe the aromatic notes of old Champagnes (2) suggesting common volatile compounds between these two types of wine.

Is early defoliation a sustainable management practice for mediterranean vineyards? Case studies at the portuguese lisbon winegrowing region

Context and purpose of the study ‐ Recently early defoliation (ED) has been tested in several high‐ yielding grapevine varieties and sites aiming at reducing cluster compactness and hence, regulating yield and susceptibility to botrytis bunch rot infection. The reported results have been generally positive, encouraging growers to use this canopy management technique as an alternative for replacing the conventional time‐consuming cluster thinning and, simultaneously, as a sustainable practice to reduce the use of fungicides. However, ED increases berry sunburn risks and/or can induce carry‐over effects on vigor and node fruitfulness as shown in the two case studies reported in this work.

Influence of climate change conditions (elevated CO2 and temperature) on the grape composition of five tempranillo (Vitis vinifera L.) Somatic variants

The current levels of greenhouse gas emissions are expecting to provoke a change on the environmental conditions which, among others, will include a rise of global mean surface temperature and an increment of atmospheric CO2 levels (IPCC, 2014), known as climate change. The response of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), one of the most important crops in Europe, from both a cultural and economic point of view, is not completely understood yet and the studies considering the interaction between factors are scarce. Besides, the potential variety of responses among somatic variants needs to be studied in order to be exploited in the avoidance of undesired traits linked to climate change (Carbonell‐Bejerano et al., 2015).