The terroir of Carnuntum: investigation of the physiogeographic characteristics and interdisciplinary study of viticultural functions of the Carnuntum wine district, Austria

Marselan wines have an unusual high proportion of seed derived tannins from grapes having high proportions of skins, which are rich in tannins. But the causes behind this characteristic have not yet been identified. In vintage 2023 wines were made at experimental scale (9 kg by experimental unit) from Arinarnoa, Marselan and Tannat Vitis vinifera grape cultivars by traditional maceration, and by techniques aimed to increase the wine content in skin derived tannin: addition of extraction enzymes, addition at vatting of grape-skin enological tannins, or by extended maceration, known to increase the seed derived tannin contents of wines.

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.

The Grenache observatory was created in 1995. The object of this 24 parcels network, covering main Rhone Valley soils, is to state the effect of pedo-climatic conditions on plant physiology and wine characteristics. The results concerning colour and tanins show a very important diversity in Grenache behaviour.

Wildfires are becoming more common in many areas of the world that are also associated with wine grape production, especially the Pacific northwest United States, Australia and even some areas of France.

Various molecular compounds are responsible for the complex mixture of fragrances that give wine its aroma. In particular, the ‘cooked fruit’ aroma found in red wines from hot and/or dry vintages or from the vinification of late harvested grapes has been intensively investigated in recent years. Lactones and especially γ-nonalactone were found to be responsible for the ‘cooked fruit’