Prefermentative CO₂ saturation of grape must to obtaining white wines with low SO₂ content

The interaction between mannoproteins and wine phenolic compounds is a subject of great interest as some studies show the possible impact in color stability and an improvement in the sensory characteristics namely the reduction of red wine astringency.

“The Human being has an excellent ability to detect and discriminate odors but typically has great difficulty in identifying specific odorants”(1). Furthermore, “from a cognitive point of view the mechanism used to judge wines is closer to pattern recognition than descriptive analysis.” Therefore, when one wants to reveal the volatile “wine-like feature” pattern recognition techniques are required. Sensomics is one of the most recent “omics”, i.e. a holistic perspective of a complex system, which deals with the description of substances originated from microorganism metabolism that are “active” to human senses (2). Depicting the relevant volatile fraction in wines has been an ongoing task in recent decades to which several research groups have allocated important resources. The most common strategy has been the “target approach” in order to identify the “key odorants” for a given wine varietal.

Probably one of the most counterintuitive impacts of climate change on vine is the increased frequency of late frost. Champagne, due to its septentrional position is historically and regularly affected by this meteorological hazard. Champagne has therefore developed a strong experience in frost protection with first experiments dating from the end of 19th century. Frost protection can be divided in two parts: passive and active. Passive protection includes all the methods that do not seek to modify the vine’s environment or resistance at the time of frost. The most iconic passive protection in Champagne is the establishment of the individual reserve. This reserve allows to stock a certain quantity of clear wine during a surplus year to compensate a meteorological hazard like frost during the following years. Other common passive methods are the control of planting area (walls, bushes, topography), the choice of grape variety, late pruning, or the impact of grass cover and tillage. Active frost protection is also divided in two parts. Most of the existing techniques tend to modify vine’s environment. Most of the time they provide warmth (candles, heaters, windmills, heating cables…), or stabilise bud’s temperature above a lethal threshold (water sprinkling). The other way to actively fight is to enhance the resistance of buds to frost (elicitors). The Comité Champagne evaluates frost protection methods following three main axes: the efficiency, the profitability, and the environmental impact through a lifecycle assessment. This study will present the results on both passive and active protection following these three axes.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the variability of ripening characteristics of the Tempranillo variety within the Ribera del Duero Designation of Origin (Spain) and it relationships with soil characteristics

Le concept AOC permet, par une délimitation précise, la mise en valeur de terroirs particulièrement adaptés à la viticulture. Seuls les terroirs ainsi identifiés peuvent produire des vins portant le nom de l’AOC. Le nom de cette AOC ne peut être utilisé que pour des vins issus de terroirs compris dans l’aire d’appellation, sous peine de sanctions pénales. La délimitation ainsi opérée participe à la protection du nom de l’AOC. A l’inverse, le terroir délimité n’est pas protégé.