“Terroir” and climate change in Franconia / Germany

The barrel-making process is widely recognized as a crucial practice that affects the composition of barrel-aged wine. After the drying process, the staves are considered ready for barrel assembly, which includes the processes of bending and toasting the barrel structure. Toasting is considered one of the most critical stages in determining the physical and chemical composition of the staves, which can influence the chemical and sensory composition of the wine aged in barrels made from them [1].

Context and Purpose. Climate change presents significant challenges to agricultural sustainability, particularly through the increasing frequency of drought and water scarcity.

Irrigation is an essential tool for grape production, especially where rainfall does not meet the optimal water requirements needed to achieve yield and quality targets. Increased evaporative demand of grapevines due to changing climate conditions, and a growing awareness for sustainable farming, require the improvement of irrigation techniques to maximize water use efficiency, i.e. using less water to achieve the same yields or the same water but larger yields. In this study, the performance of Cabernet Sauvignon vines was compared under three irrigation techniques: conventional aboveground drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation installed directly under the vine row, and partial rootzone drying in which two subsurface lines were buried in the middle of the two interrow spacings on each side of the vine row with irrigation alternated between the two lines based on soil moisture content.

La brise de mer et les facteurs climatiques qu’elle entraîne (accélération de la vitesse du vent au cours de l’après midi, augmentation de l’humidité et baisse de la temperature) sont d’un intérêt particulier pour la viticulture.

Considering that global warming is changing berry ripening timing and progression, uncovering the molecular mechanisms and identifying key regulators governing berry ripening could provide important tools in maintaining high quality grapes and wine. NAC (NAM/ATAF/CUC) transcription factors represent an interesting family due to their key role in the developmental processes control, such as fruit-ripening-associated genes expression, and in the regulation of multiple stress responses. Between the 74 NAC family members, we selected 12 of them as putative regulators of berry ripening: NAC01, NAC03, NAC05, NAC11, NAC13, NAC17, NAC18, NAC26, NAC33, NAC37, NAC60 and NAC61.