New methods and technologies to describe the environment in terroir studies

Wine consumers generally demand wines having a perception of softer tannins and less ripe, having a heaviness and richness on palate (full-body wine) with a limpid and stable color. However, polyphenol (tannins)-rich wines have been also correlated with unpleasant taste properties such as astringency and bitterness when perceived at high intensities. Modulating these unpleasant properties could be important for consumer’s approval of wines.

The vocabulary used to describe wine aroma is commonly organized according to color, raising the question of whether they reflect the reality of olfactory perception. Previous studies have assumed this convention of color-aroma matching, and have investigated color’s influence on the perception of aroma only in dyed white wine or in red wine from particular places of origin. Here 48 white and red varietal wines from around the world were evaluated in black glasses then in clear glasses by a panel of wine experts, who gave intensity ratings for aroma attributes commonly used by wine professionals. In black glasses, aromas conventionally associated with white wine were perceived in the red wines, and vice versa.

La mesure de la résistivité électrique des sols est une technique non destructive, spatialement intégrante, utilisée depuis peu en viticulture. L’utilisation d’appareils de mesures performant et de logiciels adaptés permet de traiter les données afin de pouvoir visualiser en deux ou trois dimensions les variations de textures ou d’humidité d’un sol.

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2021, Benjamin Bois (Institut Universitaire de la Vigne et du Vin – IUVV, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France) speaks about zoning the climatic potentialities and risk of vineyards & wine production regions. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on OENO One

The global warming phenomenon involves the frequency of extreme meteorological events accompanied by a change in rainfall distribution. Irrigation frequency (IF) affects the spatial and temporal soil water distribution but its effects on the phenolic composition of the grape have been scarcely studied. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of four deficit irrigation frequencies of 30 % ETo: one irrigation per day (T01), two irrigations per week (T03), one irrigation per week (T07) and one irrigation every two weeks (T15) on berry phenolic composition at harvest.