Influence of pedoclimatic factors during berry ripening in Burgundy

The wooden barrel is a key factor in enology, since wine chemical composition and sensory properties changes significantly in contact with the barrel[1]. Today’s highly competitive market constantly demands new differentiated products and wineries search innovations continuously.
Wood selection is crucial: barrels stability to keep constant their contribution and the result on products, and additional and differentiated wood contributions to impact their new products. Oak wood selection has traditionally been carried out using parameters such as specie, location and grain, however, it goes one step further nowadays. Large cooperage work with non-destructive techniques that allow classifying oak wood quickly and easily according to their organoleptic contribution[2].

Grapevine (Vitis Vinifera L.), one of the most important cultivated fruit crops, is facing significant challenges due to climate change. Specifically, increasing temperatures negatively impact the physiological traits and disrupt plant phenology. Additionally, increased virulence in pathogen attacks and pests leads to significant yield loss, requiring widespread application of plant protection products. Traditional agronomic practices offer only partial mitigation, requiring the development of precise and effective intervention strategies. The economic worth of viticulture has prompted continuous efforts in grapevine genetic improvement programs, traditionally involving conventional breeding and clonal selection that, however, are complex and time-consuming approaches.

Majority of California’s vineyards rely on supplemental irrigation to overcome abiotic stressors. In the context of climate change, increases in growing season temperatures and crop evapotranspiration pose a risk to adaptation of viticulture to climate change. Vineyard cover crops may mitigate soil erosion and preserve water resources; but there is a lack of information on how they contribute to vineyard resiliency under tillage systems. The aim of this study was to identify the optimum combination of cover crop sand tillage without adversely affecting productivity while preserving plant water status. Two experiments in two contrasting climatic regions were conducted with two cover crops, including a permanent short stature grass (P. bulbosa hybrid), barley (Hordeum spp), and resident vegetation under till vs. no-till systems in a Ruby Cabernet (V. vinifera spp.) (Fresno) and a Cabernet Sauvingon (Napa) vineyard. Results indicated that permanent grass under no-till preserved plant available water until E-L stage 17. Consequently, net carbon assimilation of the permanent grass under no-till system was enhanced compared to those with barley and resident vegetation. On the other hand, the barley under no-till system reduced grapevine net carbon assimilation during berry ripening that led to lower content of nonstructural carbohydrates in shoots at dormancy. Components of yield and berry composition including flavonoid profile at either site were not adversely affected by factors studied. Switching to a permanent cover crop under a no-till system also provided a 9% and 3% benefit in cultural practices costs in Fresno and Napa, respectively. The results of this work provides fundamental information to growers in preserving resiliency of vineyard systems in hot and warm climate regions under context of climate change.

In recent years, a pool of terpenoids possibly implicated in minty odours and in the appreciable refreshing sensation, has been identified in long aged red Bordeaux wines (Lisanti et al., 2021, Picard et al., 2016; Picard et al., 2017). These compounds were found to play a key role in the so-called “ageing bouquet”, that can be defined as “the homogeneous, harmonious flavour resulting from the complex transformation process in wine during bottle storage” (Picard et al., 2015). Moreover the minty-fresh sensory dimension in fine aged red wines plays an important role in typicity judgement by wine professionals (Picard et al., 2015).

Wine quality is influenced by grape maturity, typically monitored by measuring sugar content and acidity.