Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Characterization of the thiol aromatic potential of a new resistant grape variety: Floreal

Characterization of the thiol aromatic potential of a new resistant grape variety: Floreal

Abstract

Aims: Due to climate change and the desire to decrease enological inputs (organic farming), the vineyard has to be modified and the selection of new resistant grape varieties as an alternative is researched intensively today. From January 2018, four new grape varieties that are resistant against mildew and odium have been added to the official catalogue and are now available for planting new vineyards in France: Floreal, Artaban, Vidoc and Voltis. Floreal wines have been described as “very aromatic and very intense with specific notes of grapefruit” during tasting. Unfortunately, there is no data, either qualitative or quantitative, in literature to describe the aromatic quality of this resistant grape variety.

Today we know that the olfactory descriptor of grapefruit is mainly characteristic of 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH). To reach a deeper understanding of the aromatic potential of Floreal grapes, a combined study of the effects of both viticultural (nitrogen foliar spraying) and enological (cold lees settling) parameters has been carried out.

Methods and Results: After pressing Floreal grapes, corresponding must (with or without cold settling) was inoculated with a high b-lyase activity dry yeast strain at 20 g/hL. Temperature of fermentation was maintained close to 16 °C and we monitored the kinetic of alcoholic fermentation by measuring the rate of CO2 release. Following this, several parameters were quantified: cysteinylated and glutathionylated thiol precursors (during grape maturation and in the must), and 3MH (in the final wine) by SIDA-UPLC-MS/MS. An innovative analysis of both reduced and oxidized forms of 3MH and 3MHA has been also performed in order to indicate possible “wine oxidizability” of such a resistant variety. 

Conclusion: 

First of all, Floreal wines have concentrations in 3MH and 3MHA close to 1300 ng/L (sum of both compounds) which is relatively low in comparison with Colombard or Sauvignon blanc from Gers or Loire Valley, respectively. Thus, Floreal wine aromaticity cannot be only explained by 3MH and 3MHA, and other powerful thiols may be implicated such as 4MMP, opening an avenue for identification of new aroma compounds. 

A surprising and interesting result was the fact that cold lees settling did not significantly improve the level of both 3MH and 3MHA in Floreal wines, whereas this technological practice is commonly used for its positive effect in non-resistant varieties such as Sauvignon blanc. 

Significance and Impact of the Study: Therefore, accurate characterization of this new grape variety and those that will be developed in the coming years represents a great challenge: adapting viticultural and enological practices to produce high quality wines in the future. 

DOI:

Publication date: March 25, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type : Video

Authors

Gabriel Dournes1, Erick Casalta1, Alain Samson2, Evelyne Aguera2, Jean-Roch Mouret1, Aurélie Roland1*

1UMR SPO, INRAE, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier SupAgro, 2 place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 2, France
2 UE Pech Rouge, INRAE, 11430 Gruissan, France

Contact the author

Keywords

Thiol precursors, 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol, nitrogen foliar spraying, cold settling 

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

Analysis of Cabernet Sauvignon and Aglianico winegrape (V. vinifera L.) responses to different pedo-climatic environments in southern Italy

Water deficit is one of the most important effects of climate change able to affect agricultural sectors. In general, it determines a reduction in biomass production, and for some plants, as in the case of grapevine, it can endorse fruit quality. The monitoring and management of plant water stress in the vineyard

‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ (Vitis vinifera L.) berry skin flavonol and anthocyanin composition is affected by trellis systems and applied water amounts

Trellis systems are selected in wine grape vineyards to mainly maximize vineyard yield and maintain berry quality. This study was conducted in 2020 and 2021 to evaluate six commonly utilized trellis systems including a vertical shoot positioning (VSP), two relaxed VSPs (VSP60 and VSP80), a single high wire (SH), a high quadrilateral (HQ), and a guyot (GY), combined with three levels of irrigation regimes based on different crop evapotranspiration (ETc) replacements, including a 25% ETc, 50% ETc, and 100% ETc. The results indicated SH yielded the most fruits and accumulated the most total soluble solids (TSS) at harvest in 2020, however, it showed the lowest TSS in the second season. In 2020, SH and HQ showed higher concentrations in most of the anthocyanin derivatives compared to the VSPs. Similar comparisons were noticed in 2021 as well. SH and HQ also accumulated more flavonols in both years compared to other trellis systems. Overall, this study provides information on the efficacy of trellis systems on grapevine yield and berry flavonoid accumulation in a currently warming climate.

Sustaining wine identity through intra-varietal diversification

With contemporary climate change, cultivated Vitis vinifera L. is at risk as climate is a critical component in defining ecologically fitted plant materiel. While winegrowers can draw on the rich diversity among grapevine varieties to limit expected impacts (Morales-Castilla et al., 2020), replacing a signature variety that has created a sense of local distinctiveness may lead to several challenges. In order to sustain wine identity in uncertain climate outcomes, the study of intra-varietal diversity is important to reflect the adaptive and evolutionary potential of current cultivated varieties. The aim of this ongoing study is to understand to what extent can intra-varietal diversity be a climate change adaptation solution. With a focus on early (Sauvignon blanc, Riesling, Grolleau, Pinot noir) to moderate late (Chenin, Petit Verdot, Cabernet franc) ripening varieties, data was collected for flowering and veraison for the various studied accessions (from conservatory plots) and clones. For these phenological growing stages, heat requirements were established using nearby weather stations (adapted from the GFV model, Parker et al., 2013) and model performances were verified. Climate change projections were then integrated to predict the future behaviour of the intra-varietal diversity. Study findings highlight the strong phenotypic diversity of studied varieties and the importance of diversification to enhance climate change resilience. While model performances may require improvements, this study is the first step towards quantifying heat requirements of different clones and how they can provide adaptation solutions for winegrowers to sustain local wine identity in a global changing climate. As genetic diversity is an ongoing process through point mutations and epigenetic adaptations, perspective work is to explore clonal data from a wide variety of geographic locations.

Upscaling the integrated terroir zoning through digital soil mapping: a case study in the Designation of Origin Campo de Borja

homogeneous zones by intersecting several partial zonings of major factors that influence vineyard growth. Each of them follows specific process from their corresponding disciplines. Soil zoning specifically refers to a Soil Resource Inventory map that has traditionally been generated by conventional soil mapping methods. These methods have shortcomings in reaching fine cartographic and categorical details and involve significant expenses, which undermines their applicability. A new framework named Digital Soil Mapping has introduced quantitative models by statistical techniques to establish soil-landscape relationships and is able to provide intensive scale cartography.

In the present study, a microzoning at 1:10.000 scale is generated from an initial zoning, where the conventional soil map with polytaxic map units is replaced by a new one from digital techniques that disaggregates them. The comparison between the zonings considers a quantitative evaluation of capability for each Homogeneous Terroir Unit by means of the Viticultural Quality Index and its categorization based on its distribution by map. The spatial intersection of both maps gives rise to a confusion matrix in which the flows of class variations after the substitution are assessed.

The results show a five-fold increase in the number of Homogeneous Terroir Units identified and a larger differentiation among them, evidenced by a wider range in the capability index distribution. Both elements are accompanied by an increase in the detection of areas of higher potential within previously undervalued uniform zones.These features are a direct effect of the improvements brought by Digital Soil Mapping techniques and would verify the advantages of their implementation in the Integrated Terroir zoning. Eventually, such new highly detailed terroir units would benefit precision viticulture and sustainable management practices.

Teasing apart terroir: the influence of management style on native yeast communities within Oregon wineries and vineyards

Newer sequencing technologies have allowed for the addition of microbes to the story of terroir. The same environmental factors that influence the phenotypic expression of a crop also shape the composition of the microbial communities found on that crop. For fermented goods, such as wine, that microbial community ultimately influences the organoleptic properties of the final product that is delivered to customers. Recent studies have begun to study the biogeography of wine-associated microbes within different growing regions, finding that communities are distinct across landscapes. Despite this new knowledge, there are still many questions about what factors drive these differences. Our goal was to quantify differences in yeast communities due to management style between seven pairs of conventional and biodynamic vineyards (14 in total) throughout Oregon, USA. We wanted to answer the following questions: 1) are yeast communities distinct between biodynamic vineyards and conventional vineyards? 2) are these differences consistent across a large geographic region? 3) can differences in yeast communities be tied to differences in metabolite profiles of the bottled wine? To collect our data we took soil, bark, leaf, and grape samples from within each vineyard from five different vines of pinot noir. We also collected must and a 10º brix sample from each winery. Using these samples, we performed 18S amplicon sequencing to identify the yeast present. We then used metabolomics to characterize the organoleptic compounds present in the bottled wine from the blocks the year that we sampled. We are actively in the process of analysing our data from this study.