Impact of climate change on the aroma of red wines: a focus on dried fruit aromas

The most recent methodological developments in soil survey and land evaluation, that can be taken as reference in the viticultural field, go over usage of the GIS and database. These informatic tools, which begin to be widely utilised, consent to realise evaluations at different geographic scale and with different data quality and quantity in entrance.

Depuis 1973, une commission statutaire administre la législation qui régit le zonage vitivinicole en Afrique du Sud. La province «Le Cap de l’ouest» cerne toutes les zones viticoles sauf quatre unités. Pour la plupart, le Cap de l’ouest a un climat méditerranéen. Les zones viticoles – qui produisent les «vins d’origine» – sont des régions, des districts, des quartiers et des domaines. Les régions sont vastes, séparées par la topographie, par ex. des chaînes de montagnes et des fleuves. Généralement, chaque région représente une zone climatique. Le climat de chaque district est plus homogène. Les quartiers sont exactement délimités par le climat, la topographie et la géologie. Les domaines sont les plus petits. Chaque domaine doit avoir un seul propriétaire.

In the study of terroir, a separate analysis of its many component factors can be of great help in accurately identifying a vineyard’s natural elements that impact wine quality and typicity. This research used a dedicated pluri-disciplinary approach to investigate the ecological characteristics, including geology and geographical features, of 14 vineyards that produce Gewürztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc cultivars in the alpine Alto Adige DOC wine region. Both the geopedological method using Vineyards Geological Identity (VGI) and the new Solar Radiaton Identity (SRI) topoclimatic classification method were used to provide analytical measurements and qualitative/quantitative characterisations. In addition, wide-ranging targeted and untargeted oenological and chemical analyses were carried out on grapes, musts and wines to correlate the soils’ geomineral and physical conditions with the biochemical properties of their fruits and wines. The research identified strong correlations between vineyard geo-identity and wine biofingerprint, confirming a mineral traceability of strontium rubidium ratio and some minerals distinctive to the local geology, such as K, Ca, Ag, Ba and Mn.  The study also discovered that particular geomineral and physical soil conditions of the studied vineyards are related to the different amount of amino acids, primary varietal aromas and polyphenols found in grapes, musts and wines. The research confirmed that winemaking technologies support oenological quality, although in some cases, human practices can overpower certain characteristic elements in wine, erasing the typical imprint left by the vineyards’ natural terroir, which becomes less traceable. Terroir abiotic ecological factors and vineyard identity can be classified in detail using the new VGI and SRI analysis methods to discover interrelationships between geo-pedological and topoclimatic conditions that impact wine quality. These methods are also helpful in identifying which ecological elements are exclusive to a particular vineyard or wine sub-region.

In Tuscany region the Rufina is a district of Chianti D.O.C.G. positioned in Val di Sieve, 20 km north east from Florence.

The wine industry faces the consumer’s increasing demand for a sustainable and environmentally-friendly production [1]. This demand has been shared and boosted by the European Union within the European Green Deal in the Farm to Fork strategy that aims to reduce a 50% the pesticide utilisation in farming systems. Among the agronomical approaches so far proposed, the use of mould resitant hybrid varieties -based on crossings of Vitis vinifera with other Vitis spp [2]- with a high tolerance to the attack of vine patogens is gaining the vinegrowers attention and the production area is continuously increasing