Anthropogenic intervention in shaping Terroir in a California Pinot noir vineyard

This report has investigated the ripening characteristics of Vitis vinifera grapes Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sangiovese and Syrah in two consecutive vintages (2006 and 2007), in order to evaluate the adaptation from these recently varieties planted in São Joaquim town, Santa Catarina State, Brazil.

Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) Ontario, (Alliance de qualité Vintners) est responsable de l’administration et de l’imposition des normes en liaison avec la qualité du vin, l’appellation d’origine, les variétés de raisin et les méthodes de production. Des vins produits selon les règlements de VQA sont actuellement étiquetés de trois distinctes mais larges régions d’appellation

In the next years the territorial environmental certification could become realistic if the following conditions will be fully satisfied:
– the enhancement of the environmental awareness among the industries, the public administration, the authorization bodies, the living people of that territory as well as the tourists and visitors.

Brandy de Jerez (BJ) is a spirit drink made exclusively from spirits and wine distillates and is characterized by the use of casks for aging that previously contained Sherries. The quality and sensory complexity of BJ depend on the raw materials and some factors: grape variety, conditions during processing the wine and its distillation, as well as the aging in the cask. Therefore, the original compounds of the grapes from which it comes are of great interest being in most cases the Airén variety. Their relationship with the quality of the musts and the wines obtained from them has been studied (1) and varies each year of harvest depending on the weather conditions (2).

This study investigated if compositional differences between Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties could influence the production of yeast-derived compounds. This work was based on the analysis of 40 experimental red wines made in triplicate fermentations from grapes harvested from two consecutive vintages in New South Wales (Australia). Grapes were picked at three maturity stages using berry sugar accumulation as physiological indicator, from nine commercial vineyards located in three different climatic regions (temperate, temperate-warm and warm-hot). A range of 30 yeast-derived wine volatiles including esters and alcohols were quantified by HS/SPME-GC/MS. Ammonia, amino-acids and lipids were analysed in the corresponding grapes. The juice total soluble solids (°Brix) in addition to the wine alcohol and residual sugar levels were also measured. The influence of grape maturity on wine ester composition was also variety dependent, particularly for higher alcohol acetate and ethyl ester of branched acids. This study highlights that varietal differences observed in Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines involve fermentation-derived compounds irrespective of the site (soil, climate, viticultural practices).