Terroir 2010 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Terroir Conferences 9 Terroir 2010 9 Geology and Soil: effects on wine quality (T2010) 9 Typicité et terroir : importance relative du type de sol et du niveau de maturité dans la typologie sensorielle du vin

Typicité et terroir : importance relative du type de sol et du niveau de maturité dans la typologie sensorielle du vin

Abstract

[English version below]

Le lien fonctionnel entre typicité et terroir a été étudié en prenant en compte deux dimensions importantes : le type de sol et la date de vendanges. Ces deux facteurs sont, à des degrés divers, considérés comme facteurs explicatifs de l’effet terroir. Trois parcelles de Cabernet franc, sur trois types de sols différents et revendiquant des AOP variées (“Anjou Villages”, “Anjou Rouge” et “Saumur Champigny”) ont été vinifiées, en triplicata, à deux dates espacées de 14 jours. Les vins, vinifiés selon un protocole standardisé, ont été analysés sensoriellement par un jury de professionnels (question de typicité : Anjou Rouge vs Anjou Villages) et par un jury expert (profil conventionnel). Pour évaluer la notion de maturité phénolique (teneur et aptitude à l’extraction), les composés phénoliques ont été analysés à la vendange, au décuvage, mais également au moment de l’analyse sensorielle.
Les résultats montrent que si le type de sol a permis de discriminer les profils sensoriels des vins, son effet sur la typicité a été faible. La date de vendanges, au contraire, a permis de discriminer les profils sensoriels mais également les notes de typicité. Concernant les composés phénoliques, si la teneur et la composition en anthocyanes était dépendante de la date de vendanges, elle n’a pas été explicative de la typicité, sauf quand les anthocyanes totales ont été mesurées lors de l’analyse sensorielle (effet couleur). La quantité de tanins condensés n’est pas apparue dépendante des parcelles mais de la date de vendanges. La qualité des tanins contenus dans le vin au décuvage s’est révélée différente selon la date de vendanges et explicative de la typicité. Enfin, la couleur des vins, liée à leur composition en composés phénoliques, a influencé la perception de la typicité.
Cette étude illustre l’importance de certaines pratiques dans l’effet terroir, le type de sol ayant un effet direct beaucoup moins important que ne laissent supposer les résultats d’enquêtes auprès des producteurs.

Harvest date is a critical point to the winemaker, in order to produce wine with a distinctive style. In particular the relation between ripening stage and extractability of flavonoids must be highlighted.
The extractability of flavonoids (flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins) from grapes was monitored at two stages of maturity (veraison + 30 days, veraison + 44 days). Berries were obtained from three plots with different types of soil in term of water status, from 3 AOC (Anjou-Villages-Brissac, Anjou and Saumur Champigny) and were elaborated in triplicate. Flavonoids were analysed before and after winemaking, by RP-LC-DAD, after fractionation and thiolysis for the proanthocyanidins. Sensory analysis was performed eight month after harvest, by a sensory expert panel (Quantitative descriptive analysis) and by wine experts, (assessment of the typicality). Wine experts were producers, winemakers, and oenologists from the area.
The results showed that the type of soil allowed to discriminate the wines according to some sensory attributes, but its effect on the typicality was weak. On the contrary, the date of grape harvest, allowed discriminating the wine according to their sensory profiles and also to their typicality scores. Concerning the flavonoids, if the content and the composition in anthocyanins were dependent on the date of grape harvest, it was not connected to the typicality, except when anthocyanins were analyzed just before sensory analysis. The quantity of condensed tannins was not dependent on plots but on harvest date. The quality of tannins contained in the wine at devatting was different according to hatvest date. Moreover, quantity and quality of condensed tanins were highly correlated to the typicality scores. Finally, if the anthocyanin contents of wines were correlated with typicality, the composition in the final wine were not predicted by composition at devatting. The influence of anthocyanins seemed to be due to perception of the color of wines in the typicality judgment.
This study illustrated the importance of harvest and vatting practices in the terroir effect, with a soil effect less important as often admitted.

DOI:

Publication date: December 3, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2010

Type: Article

Authors

Champenois Réjane (1), Cadot Yves (1), Caille Soline (2), Samson Alain (3), Cheynier Véronique (2)

(1) INRA, UE 1117, UMT Vinitera, F-49070 Beaucouzé, France
(2) INRA, UMR1083 Sciences pour l’OEnologie, F-34060 Montpellier, France
(3) INRA, UE999 Pech-Rouge, F-11430 Gruissan, France

Contact the author

Keywords

Terroir, Typicité, Tanins condensés, Anthocyanes, Cabernet franc, Vitis vinifera
Terroir, Typicality, Condensed tanins, Anthocyanins, Cabernet franc, Vitis vinifera

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2010

Citation

Related articles…

Influence of climatic conditions on grape composition of Tempranillo in La Mancha DO (Spain)

The aim of this work was to analyze the variability in grape composition of the Tempranillo cultivar related to climatic conditions, in La Mancha Designation of Origin. Grape composition (sugar content, total acidity, pH, malic acid, and total and extractable anthocyanins) recorded during ripening, were analysed for the period 2000-2019. The weather conditions at daily time scale, recorded during the same period, were also evaluated. The relationships between grape parameters with climatic variables related to temperature and to water deficits, referring different periods between phenological events along the growing cycle, were evaluated using regression analysis. High variability in grape composition was observed in the period analysed. Total acidity varied between 3.7 and 7.3 gL-1 while malic acid varied between 1.2 and 4 gL-1. The extractable anthocyanins ranged between 526 and 972 mgL-1, and total anthocyanins ranged between 922 and 1388 mgL-1, being the lowest values recorded in the hottest year (2017). Total acidity decreased 0.77 gL-1 for an increase of 100 GDD, while malic acid decrease in 0.42 gL-1 for the same GDD increase, being the period between veraison and harvest the one that seemed to have higher influence on acidity. In addition, it was confirmed that increasing water deficits decreased acidity. Total and extractable anthocyanins increased in about 210 and 105 mgL-1, respectively, with an increase of 100 GDD from veraison to harvest, and the increase in water deficits favour the increase of anthocyanins, both total and extractable anthocyanins. Total and extractable anthocyanins concentration increased in 35 and 22 mgL-1 per an increase of 10 mm in the water deficit. These results can be of interest to understand the potential changes that grapes composition may suffer under future warmer climates.

VINIoT – Precision viticulture service

The project VINIoT pursues the creation of a new technological vineyard monitoring service, which will allow companies in the wine sector in the SUDOE space to monitor plantations in real time and remotely at various levels of precision. The system is based on spectral images and an IoT architecture that allows assessing parameters of interest viticulture and the collection of data at a precise scale (level of grape, plant, plot or vineyard) will be designed. In France, three subjects were specifically developed: evaluation of maturity, of water stress, and detection of flavescence dorée. For the evaluation of maturity, it has been decided first to work at the berry scale in the laboratory, then at the bunch scale and finally in the vineyard. The acquisition of the spectral hyperstal image as well as the reference analyzes to measure the maturity, were carried out in the laboratory after harvesting the berries in a maturity monitoring context. This work focuses on a case study to predict sugar content of three different grape varieties: Syrah, Fer Servadou and Mauzac. A robust method called Roboost-PLSR, developed in the framework of this work (Courand et al., 2022), to improve prediction model performance was applied on spectra after the acquirement of hyperspectral images. Regarding the evaluation of water stress, to work with a significant variability in terms of water status, it has been worked first with potted plants under 2 different water regimes. The facilities have allowed the supervision of irrigation and micro-climatic conditions. The regression models on agronomic variables (stomatal conductance, water potential, …) are studied. To detect flavescence dorée, the experimental plan has consisted of work at leaf scale in the laboratory first, and then in the field. To detect the disease from hyper-spectral imaging, a combination of multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) and factorial discriminant analysis (FDA) was proposed. This strategy proved the potential towards the discrimination of healthy and infected leaves by flavescence dorée based on the use of hyperspectral images (Mas Garcia et al., 2021).

Adaptation to soil and climate through the choice of plant material

Choosing the rootstock, the scion variety and the training system best suited to the local soil and climate are the key elements for an economically sustainable production of wine. The choice of the rootstock/scion variety best adapted to the characteristics of the soil is essential but, by changing climatic conditions, ongoing climate change disrupts the fine-tuned local equilibrium. Higher temperatures induce shifts in developmental stages, with on the one hand increasing fears of spring frost damages and, on the other hand, ripening during the warmest periods in summer. Expected higher water demand and longer and more frequent drought events are also major concerns. The genetic control of the phenotypes, by genomic information but also by the epigenetic control of gene expression, offers a lot of opportunities for adapting the plant material to the future. For complex traits, genomic selection is also a promising method for predicting phenotypes. However, ecophysiological modelling is necessary to better anticipate the phenotypes in unexplored climatic conditions Genetic approaches applied on parameters of ecophysiological models rather than raw observed data are more than ever the basis for finding, or building, the ideal varieties of the future.

The interplay between grape ripening and weather anomalies – A modeling exercise

Current climate change is increasing inter- and intra-annual variability in atmospheric conditions leading to grapevine phenological shifts as well altered grape ripening and composition at ripeness. This study aims to (i) detect weather anomalies within a long-term time series, (ii) model grape ripening revealing altered traits in time to target specific ripeness thresholds for four Vitis vinifera cultivars, and (iii) establish empirical relationships between ripening and weather anomalies with forecasting purposes. The Day of the Year (DOY) to reach specific grape ripeness targets was determined from time series of sugar concentrations, total acidity and pH collected from a private company in the period 2009-2021 in North-Eastern Italy. Non-linear models for the DOY to reach the specified ripeness thresholds were assessed for model efficiency (EF) and error of prediction (RMSE) in four grapevine cultivars (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Glera and Garganega). For each vintage and cultivar, advances or delays in DOY to target specified ripeness thresholds were assessed with respect to the average ripening dynamics. Long-term meteorological series monitored at ground weather station by means of hourly air temperature and rainfall data were analyzed. Climate statistics were obtained and for each time period (month, bimester, quarter and year) weather anomalies were identified. A linear regression analysis was performed to assess a possible correlation that may exist between ripening and weather anomalies. For each cultivar, ripeness advances or delays expressed in number of days to target the specific ripening threshold were assessed in relation to registered weather anomalies and the specific reference time period in the vintage. Precipitation of the warmest month and spring quarter are key to understanding the effect of climate change on sugar ripeness. Minimum temperatures of May-June bimester and maximum temperatures of spring quarter best correlate with altered total acidity evolution and pH increment during the ripening process, respectively.

Variety and climatic effects on quality scores in the Western US winegrowing regions

Wine quality is strongly linked to climate. Quality scores are often driven by climate variation across different winegrowing regions and years, but also influenced by other aspects of terroir, including variety. While recent work has looked at the relationship between quality scores and climate across many European regions, less work has examined New World winegrowing regions. Here we used scores from three major rating systems (Wine Advocate, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator) combined with daily climate and phenology data to understand what drives variation across wine quality scores in major regions of the Western US, including regions in California, Oregon and Washington. We examined effects of variety, region, and in what phenological period climate was most predictive of quality. As in other studies, we found climate, based mainly on growing degree day (GDD) models, was generally associated with quality—with higher GDD associated with higher scores—but variety and region also had strong effects. Effects of region were generally stronger than variety. Certain varieties received the highest scores in only some areas, while other varieties (e.g., Merlot) generally scored lower across regions. Across phenological stages, GDD during budbreak was often most strongly associated with quality. Our results support other studies that warmer periods generally drive high quality wines, but highlight how much region and variety drive variation in scores outside of climate.