A zoning study of the viticultural territory of a cooperative winery in Valpolicella

In this video recording of the IVES science meeting 2025, Marie Le Scanff (University of Bordeaux, UMR 1366 Oenologie, Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin, Villenave d’Ornon, France) speaks about the sensory contribution of grape stems during winemaking and about the role of astilbin, a sweet polyphenol. This presentation is based on an original article accessible for free on OENO One and on a technical article published on IVES Technical Reviews.

A terroir can be defined as a natural unit that is characterised by a specific agricultural potential, which is imparted by natural environmental features, and is reflected in the characteristics of the final product.

Smoke impact in wines is caused by a wide range of volatile phenols found in wildfire smoke. These compounds are absorbed and accumulate in berries, where they may also become glycosylated. Both volatile and glycosylated forms eventually end up in wine where they can cause off-flavors. The impact on wine aroma is mainly attributed to volatile phenols, while in-mouth hydrolysis of glycosylated forms may be responsible for long-lasting “ashy” aftertastes (1).

L’agricoltura dei territori costituenti l’antica “Terra di Lavoro”, territorio che oggi è compreso nella provincia di Caserta ed in parte di quelle di Frosinone e Latina, ha subito a partire dal 1970

Soils in vineyards are recognized as complex agrosystems whose characteristics reflect complex interactions between natural factors (lithology, climate, slope, biodiversity) and human activities. To date, most of the unknown lies in an incomplete understanding of soil ecosystems, and specifically in the microbial biodiversity even though soil microbiota is involved in many key functions, such as nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Soil biological properties are indicative of soil quality. Therefore, understanding how soil communities are related to soil ecosystem functioning is becoming an essential issue for soil strategy conservation. Here, we propose to assess the importance of land-cover history on the present-day microbiological and physico-chemical properties. The studied area was selected in the Burgundian vineyards (Pernand-Vergelesses, Burgundy, France) where land occupation has been reconstructed over the last 40 years. Soil samples were collected in five areas reflecting various land cover history (forest, vineyards, shifting from forest to vineyards). For each area, physico-chemical parameters (pH, C, N, P, grain size) were measured and DNA was extracted to characterize the abundance and diversity of microbial communities. The obtained results show significant differences in the five areas suggesting that present-day microbial molecular biomass and bacterial taxonomic is partly inherited from past land occupation. Over longer period of time, such study of land-uses legacies may help to better assess ecosystem recovery and the impact of management practices for a better soil quality and vineyards sustainability.