Terroir 2010 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 La protection des terroirs viticoles dans l’AOC Côtes du Rhône (France)

La protection des terroirs viticoles dans l’AOC Côtes du Rhône (France)

Abstract

[English version below]

Les terroirs viticoles, et plus particulièrement ceux des vignobles AOC, sont aujourd’hui menacés par de multiples agressions. Ces territoires sont non seulement l’outil de production mais participent aussi, via l’image qu’ils renvoient du vignoble, à la valeur ajoutée des vins. Il est nécessaire de mettre en œuvre des démarches de protections.
Cet article vise à démontrer de manière appliquée les différentes formes de protections des terroirs viticoles. A partir d’exemples concrets développés dans le vignoble des Côtes du Rhône, les auteurs s’interrogent sur les réalités des démarches menées et leur conjugaison.
La protection des terroirs viticoles AOC des Côtes du Rhône sera abordée sous l’angle :
de l’Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée : fonctionnement, efficacités et limites ;
juridique : démarches existantes gérées par le Service de protection des terroirs du Syndicat d’appellation (Organisme de Défense et de Gestion) et les lacunes rencontrées ;
paysager : à travers le zonage agro-paysager de plus d’une quarantaine de communes de
l’aire d’appellation depuis 5 ans, qui pose la question de sa traduction dans les documents d’urbanisme et, plus largement, d’une approche transversale et partagée des paysages de vignobles (cf. Charte Internationale des Paysages Viticoles de Fontevraud) ;
environnemental : via des actions et des pratiques, ponctuelles ou collectives, orientées vers la durabilité et la pérennisation de la viticulture (vignobles et entreprises). Une étude est en cours pour diagnostiquer les initiatives existantes et établir un plan stratégique pour les années à venir ;
territorial : par une veille permanente qui amène le plus souvent à des réunions de concertation avec les collectivités, démarche indispensable à la reconnaissance politique de la valeur des terroirs viticoles.
Enfin, les résultats obtenus à ce jour mènent les auteurs à s’interroger sur la réelle efficacité du niveau de protection atteint. Ils évoquent la nécessité de développer une approche transversale, qui conjugue et combine les différents angles évoqués de la protection.

 

The wine-growing areas, especially in vineyards with appellation of controlled origin, are now threatened by multiple attacks. These territories are not only the tool of wine production but also participate through the image of the vineyard they refer to the value-added wines. It is necessary to implement protective actions.
This article aims to demonstrate a practical way the various forms of protection of wine terroirs. From concrete examples developed in the vineyards of the Cotes du Rhone, the authors discuss the realities of procedures performed and their combination.
The protection of terroirs of the Côtes du Rhône AOC will be discussed in terms of :
The AOC : operating efficiencies and limitations ;
Legal protection : existing approaches, managed by the service of protection of the terroirs of SGVRCDR (Organization of Defence and Management of AOC area), but the gaps encountered;
Landscape protection : through agricultural and landscape zoning of more than forty communes of the appellation area for 5 years, which raises the question of its translation into planning documents and more broadly of a horizontal approach and shared landscapes of vineyards (cf. Charter of the International Wine Landscapes Fontevraud) ;
Environmental protection : through actions and practices, individual or collective, oriented towards sustainability and the sustainability of viticulture (vineyards and wine businesses).
A study is underway to diagnose existing initiatives and develop a strategic plan for the future;
Territorial protection : a continuous watch that most often leads to consultation meetings with communities, a process essential to the political recognition of the value of wine terroirs.
Finally, the results obtained so far led the authors to question the real effectiveness of the level of protection achieved. They say they need to develop a horizontal approach, which combines and combines different angles evoked protection.

DOI:

Publication date: December 3, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2010

Type: Article

Authors

B. RODRIGUEZ LOVELLE (1), L. FABBRI (2), A. PUJOL (3)

(1,3) Syndicat Général des Vignerons Réunis des Côtes du Rhône

(1) Service technique – Institut Rhodanien – 2260 Rte. du Grès – 84100 Orange (France)

(3) Service protection des terroirs – Maison des Vins – 6 rue des Trois Faucons – 84000 Avignon (France)

(2) Territoires & Paysages – Hôtel d’entreprises – 10 av. de la Croix Rouge – 84000 Avignon (France)

Contact the author

Keywords

Terroir, aménagement du territoire, protection juridique, paysage, potentiel de production, AOC, Côtes du Rhône, zonage
« Terroir », territory planning, legal protection, landscape, production potential, appellation of controlled origin, « Côtes du Rhône », zoning

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2010

Citation

Related articles…

Projected changes in vine phenology of two varieties with different thermal requirements cultivated in La Mancha DO (Spain) under climate change scenarios

The aim of this work was to analyze the phenology variability of Tempranillo and Chardonnay cultivars, related to the climatic characteristics in La Mancha Designation of Origin, and their potential changes under climate change scenarios. Phenological dates referred to budbreak, flowering, veraison and harvest were analyzed for the period 2000-2019. The weather conditions at daily time scale, recorded during the same period, were also evaluated. The thermal requirements to reach each of these phenological stages were calculated and expressed as the GDD accumulated from DOY=60. Changes in phenology were projected by 2050 and 2070 taking into account those values and the projected temperatures and precipitation, simulated under two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios –RCP4.5 and RCP8.5– using an ensemble of models. The average phenological dates during the period under study were, April 16th ± 6.6 days and April 5th ± 6.0 days for budbreak, May 31st ± 6.0 days and May 27th ± 5.3 days for flowering, July 26th ± 5.6 days and July 25th ± 5.8 days for veraison, and Ago 23rd ± 10.8 days and Ago 17th ± 9.0 days for harvest, respectively, for Tempranillo and Chardonnay. The projected changes in temperature imply an average change in the maximum growing season (April-August) temperatures of 1.2 and 1.9°C by 2050, and 1.6 and 2.6°C by 2070, under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively. A reduction in precipitation is predicted, which vary between 15% for 2050 under RCP4.5 scenario and up to 30% by 2070 under RCP8.5. The advance of the phenological dates for 2050, could be of 6, 7, 7, and 8 days for Tempranillo and 4, 6, 6 and 9 days for Chardonnay, respectively for budbreak, flowering, veraison and harvest under the RCP4.5 scenario. Under the RCP8.5 emission scenario, the advance could be up to 30% higher.

Influence of weather and climatic conditions on the viticultural production in Croatia

The research includes an analysis of the impact of weather conditions on phenological development of the vine and grape quality, through monitoring of four experimental cultivars (Chardonnay, Graševina, Merlot and Plavac mali) over two production years. In each experimental vineyard, which were evenly distributed throughout the regions of Slavonia and The Croatian Danube, Croatian Uplands,

Influence of a spontaneous cover crop on the vineyard and soil erosion under Mediterranean climate

Sixty five % of the agricultural area of the Basque Country located in the DO Ca Rioja corresponds to vineyards. More than 40% of it has an average slope greater than 10%, which makes it sensitive to erosive processes. Furthermore, it is foreseeable that extreme weather events (storms, hail, extreme heat and cold, etc.) will be favored due to climate change. Cover cropping can mitigate this risk, and therefore the objective of this work is to evaluate the impact that a vegetable cover has on the agronomic behavior of the vineyard, the quality of the grape and soil erosion. For this, a trial has been carried out with a Graciano variety vineyard with a slope between 10% -20% during the years 2020 and 2021. Conventional tillage management in the area has been compared (4-6 passes per year of tillage machinery) versus spontaneous vegetation cover management in the vineyard. This implies not tilling and allowing the grass of the land to colonize the range between the lines of vines, controlling their height through 1-3 mowing passes per year, always trying to affect the surface of the land as little as possible. The vegetative growth, yield and quality of the grape and wine was measured. Furthermore, erosion has been measured using Gerlasch boxes. The yield was lower in the second year of the trial in the cover crop treatment, but erosion was significantly reduced.

Pruned vine biomass exclusion from a clay loam vineyard soil – examining the impact on physical/chemical properties

The wine industry worldwide faces increasing challenges to achieve sustainable levels of carbon emission mitigation. This project seeks to establish the feasibility of harvesting winter pruned vineyard biomass (PVB) for potential use in carbon footprint reduction, through its use as a renewable biofuel for energy production. In order to make this recommendation, technical issues such as the potential environmental impact, chemical composition and fuel suitability, and logistical challenges of harvesting biomass needs to be understood to compare with the results from similar studies. Of particular interest is the role PVB plays as a carbon source in vineyard soils and what effect annual removal might have on soil carbon sequestration. A preliminary trial was established in the Waite Campus vineyard (University of Adelaide) to test current management strategies. Vines are grown in a Eutrophic, Red Dermosol clay loam soil with well managed midrow swards. A comparison was undertaken of mid-row treatments in two 0.25 Ha blocks (Shiraz and Semillon), including annual cultivation for seed bed preparation, the deliberate exclusion of PVB (25 years) and incorporation of PVB (13 years) at an average of 3.4 and 5.5 Mg/Ha-1 for Shiraz and Semillon respectively. In both 0-10cm and 10-30cm soil core sample depths, combined soil carbon % measures in the desired range of 1.80 to 3.50, were not significantly different between treatments or cultivars and yielded an estimated 42 Mg/ha-1 of sequestered soil carbon. Other key physical and chemical measures were likewise not significantly different between treatments. Preliminary results suggest that in a temperate zone vineyard, managed such as the one used in this study, there is no long term negative impact on soil carbon sequestration through removing PVB. This implies that growers could confidently harvest PVB for use in several end fates including as a bio fuel.

VineyardFACE: Investigation of a moderate (+20%) increase of ambient CO2 level on berry ripening dynamics and fruit composition

Climate change and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is a concern for agriculture, including viticulture. Studies on elevated carbon dioxide have already been on grapevines, mainly taking place in greenhouses using potted plants or using field grown vines under higher CO2 enrichment, i.e. >650 ppm. The VineyardFACE, located at Hochschule Geisenheim University, is an open field Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experimental set-up designed to study the effects of elevated carbon dioxide using field grown vines (Vitis vinifera L. cvs. Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon). As the carbon dioxide fumigation started in 2014, the long term effects of elevated carbon dioxide treatment can be investigated on berry ripening parameters and fruit metabolic composition.
The present study aims to investigate the effect on fruit composition under a moderate increase (+20%; eCO2) of carbon dioxide concentration, as predicted for 2050 on both Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. Berry composition was determined for primary (sugars, organic acids, amino acids) and secondary metabolites (anthocyanins). Special focus was given on monitoring of berry diameter and ripening rates throughout three growing seasons. Compared to previous results of the early adaptative phase of the vines [1], our results show little effect of eCO2 treatment on primary metabolites composition in berries. However, total anthocyanins concentration in berry skin was lower for eCO2 treatment in 2020, although the ratio between anthocyanins derivatives did not differ.
[1] Wohlfahrt Y., Tittmann S., Schmidt D., Rauhut D., Honermeier B., Stoll M. (2020) The effect of elevated CO2 on berry development and bunch structure of Vitis vinifera L. cvs. Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. Applied Science Basel 10: 2486