The oenological potential of grapes at harvest depends on a combination of the major components of Terroir: the climate, the soil, the plant material, the training system and the crop management. They control the type of product that can be developed, providing adapted winemaking techniques.
Due to the high variability of each of the Terroir components, predicting the grape oenological potentialities (and consequently the final product potential) is challenging.
To address this problem, we propose here a statistical method based upon multifactorial analysis. The method was established using of data set collected from 2005 to 2011, on a network of 13 plots of cv Merlot in the Bordeaux winegrowing region. This approach showed that Terroir reacted differently to year-to-year climate variability. Some plots provided a high oenological potential for most of the vintages whereas other were very sensitive to climate variations. When applied to Burgundy, on cv Pinot and Chardonnay (11 and 8 plots, respectively) from 2000 to 2010, similar conclusion were reached.
This multifactorial analysis approach proposed here is an efficient tool to characterize the oenological potential of Terroirs. Such potential could be estimated prior to harvest, knowing the major feature of the vintage by means of climate indices.
Authors: Maud-Isabeau FURET (1), Maxime CHRISTEN (1), Anne-Charlotte MONTEAU (2), Christine MONAMY (2), Benjamin BOIS (3), Pascal GUILBAULT (1)
(1) Chambre d’Agriculture de la Gironde, Vinopôle Bordeaux-Aquitaine, 39 rue Michel Montaigne, 33294 Blanquefort, France
(2) BIVB, Pôle Technique et Qualité, 6 rue du 16ème Chasseurs, 21200 BEAUNE, France
(3) Centre de Recherches de Climatologie, UMR 6282 Biogéosciences CNRS Université de Bourgogne, 6, boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France
Email: m.christen@gironde.chambagri.fr
Keywords: grape oenological potential, terroir components, climate, vintage effect, plot effect, agronomic filter. Mots-clés : potentialités œnologiques de la récolte, composantes du terroir, climat, effets millésime, effet parcelle, filtre agronomique.