Contribution of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) measurements for characterizing hydrological behaviour of an experimental plot in relation to pedo-geological factors (AOC Gaillac, SW France)

Aims: The aims of this work were (1) to assess the changes in some of the main bioclimatic indices used for climate viticultural zoning within the Rioja Appellation area in the north of Spain between 1950-2014 (60 years), and (2) to carry out a comprehensive sociological evaluation among grapegrowers and winemakers of this region, to better understand the impact of climate change on their activity, their degree of concern about it and the potential adaptation measures they would be willing to adopt to cope with it in future years.

The table grape industry in Europe is undergoing significant changes. For instance, in Italy, the national register of vine varieties was established in 1969, and since then, many varieties of table grapes have been registered. In the first thirty years, from 1969 to 1999, 62 seeded and 24 seedless varieties were registered. In the subsequent period, from 2000 to the present day, 23 seeded varieties and 99 seedless varieties were registered.

The phenolic compounds (cathechins, cynnamic acids, anthocyanidins) in wines made from 6 vine-varieties (Sangiovese, Cabernet S., Nero d’Avola, Foglia Tonda, Pinot N., Mazzese) grown in 4 different pedoclimatic zones of Tuscany (Arezzo, Grosseto, Pisa and Lucca) have been analyzed by HPLC.

A misconception lingers in the minds of some wine consumers that Champagne wines don’t age. It’s largely a myth, certainly as far as the best cuvees are concerned. Actually, during the so-called autolysis period of time (in the closed bottle, after the “prise de mousse”), complex chemical reactions take place when the wine remains in contact with the dead yeast cells, which progressively bring complex and very much sought-after aromas to champagne. Nevertheless, despite their remarkable impermeability to liquid and air, caps or natural cork stoppers used to cork the bottles are not 100% hermetic with regard to gas transfers. Gas species therefore very slowly diffuse through the cap or cork stopper, along their respective inverse partial pressure. After the “prise de mousse”, because the partial pressure of CO2 in the bottleneck reaches up to 6 bars (at 12 °C), gaseous CO2 progressively diffuse from the bottle to the ambient air
(where the partial pressure of gaseous CO2 is only of order of 0,0004 bar).

ln 1997, twenty six cultivation sites of cv. Muscat of Alexandria different for pedological conditions, altitude and exposition were selected through ail Pantelleria isle. ln each site, described and classified according to USDA Soil Taxonony and FAO Soil Classification methods, grapes, collected at technological ripening, were microvinificated, following a standard procedure which allowed to obtain the naturally sweet wine DOC Moscato di Pantelleria. Wines, five months after vinification, were analysed by gaschromatography.