Incidences of the climate, the soil and the harvest date on Colombard aromatic potential in Gascony

The global consumer demand for low or non-alcoholic wine is growing steadily in recent years, driven by health concerns, religious beliefs, and personal taste preferences etc.. Consequently, the removal of alcohol from wine can significantly alter its chemical and sensory properties, including color, aroma, and taste, which make a significant challenge for consumer to accept these products. Ethanol plays a crucial role in various chemical reactions and interactions that contribute to the development of wine’s characteristics.

At long term, qualitative irrigation seems to be the most systematic, if not the best, cultural practice for dealing with climate change and yield increases without decrease grape quality.

Sixty five % of the agricultural area of the Basque Country located in the DO Ca Rioja corresponds to vineyards. More than 40% of it has an average slope greater than 10%, which makes it sensitive to erosive processes. Furthermore, it is foreseeable that extreme weather events (storms, hail, extreme heat and cold, etc.) will be favored due to climate change. Cover cropping can mitigate this risk, and therefore the objective of this work is to evaluate the impact that a vegetable cover has on the agronomic behavior of the vineyard, the quality of the grape and soil erosion. For this, a trial has been carried out with a Graciano variety vineyard with a slope between 10% -20% during the years 2020 and 2021. Conventional tillage management in the area has been compared (4-6 passes per year of tillage machinery) versus spontaneous vegetation cover management in the vineyard. This implies not tilling and allowing the grass of the land to colonize the range between the lines of vines, controlling their height through 1-3 mowing passes per year, always trying to affect the surface of the land as little as possible. The vegetative growth, yield and quality of the grape and wine was measured. Furthermore, erosion has been measured using Gerlasch boxes. The yield was lower in the second year of the trial in the cover crop treatment, but erosion was significantly reduced.

La diffusion récente et “explosive” du Chardonnay dans pratiquement toutes les zones de culture viticole du monde a fait penser, à tort, que cette variété s’adapte facilement à toutes les conditions pédo-climatiques ou presque. Cette thèse a été confirmée par la grande faculté d’adaptation dont a fait preuve le vignoble et par la popularité dont jouit le vin auprès des consommateur du monde entier.

During 1982 started our wine growing project at the Puntalarga Hill, between 2500 and 2600 meters a.s.l.: 5.78 ºN, 72.98 ºW. Pinot noir, white Riesling and Riesling x Silvaner crossings are the most planted grapevines. Since 1984 research and development activities are carried out on pertinent subjects.