Impact of harvest date on the terroir expression and the aroma profile of Touraine Sauvignon wines

In this audio recording of the IVES science meeting 2022, Gonzaga Santesteban (Department of Agronomy, Biotechnology and Food Science, Public University of Navarra (UPNA), Pamplona, Navarra, Spain) speaks about cover crops in viticulture. This presentation is based on 2 original articles accessible for free on OENO One.

Biodynamic agriculture, founded in 1924 by Rudolph Steiner, is a form of organic agriculture. Through a holistic approach, biodynamic agriculture seeks to preserve the diversity of agriculture and the existing interactions between the mineral world and the different components of the organic world. Biodynamic grape production involves the use of composts, herbal teas and mineral preparations such as 500, 501 and CBMT.
Several scientific studies have provided evidence on the effects of biodynamic farming on the soil, the plant and the wine. Numerous empirical opinions of wine growers support the existence of differences brought by such a management.

Over the past 70 years, scientific literature has consistently illustrated the advantageous effects of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) on plant growth and stress tolerance. Recent reviews not only reaffirm these findings but also underscore the pivotal role of AMF in ensuring the sustainability of viticulture. In fact, various companies actively promote commercial inoculants based on AMF as biofertilizers or biostimulants for sustainable viticulture. However, despite the touted benefits of these products, the consistent effectiveness of AMF inoculants in real-world field conditions remains uncertain.

The northern vineyards produce wines with a high aromatic richness. The wines of Alsace are appreciated for the diversity of their aromas, the typicality of which was for a long time judged mainly according to the grape variety of origin. Alsatian winegrowers have however widely sensed the importance of the environment of the vine on the quality of the wines. Efforts are made to try to harmonize in a reasoned way the interaction between the natural environment and the plant material with a view to developing the character of the grape variety through the fine expression of the terroir and making the quality and typicality even more inimitable. wines produced in Alsace.

The production of most red wines that are sold involves an alcoholic fermentation carried out by yeasts of the Saccharomyces genus, and a subsequent fermentation carried out by lactic bacteria of the Oenococus oeni species after the first one is fully completed. However, the traditional process can face complications, which can be more likely in grape juices with high levels of sugar and pH. Because of climate change, these situations are more frequent in the wine industry. The main hazards in those scenarios are halts or delays in the alcoholic fermentation or the growth of unwanted bacteria while the alcoholic fermentation is not done yet and the wine still has residual sugars.