Relation between the environmental factors of the terroir system and flavan-3-ol composition of grape berry seeds and skin at pre-veraison stage and harvest Influence of dedicate viticultural management

Soil and climate of 3 vineyards have been characterised in order to determine their influence on grape quality. These vineyards are located in Conca de Barberà (Catalonia, NE Spain) and belong to Cabernet sauvignon and Grenache noir cultivars. All 3 plots are very close, so only interannual climatic data of the nearest meteorological station have been considered.

Aim: The eastern foot of Helan Mountain, Ningxia, China is one of the most important wine production regions in China and grape cultivation has spread in several sub-regions with different soils and cultivars. Large diversity in wine aromas have been observed at Ningxia region but which terroir factors drive those diversity in aromas remain to uncover. This study aims to investigate the impacts of grape varieties and soil chemical properties on wine aromas at Ningxia, in order to characterize the aromatic typicality of Ningxia wines and provide foundation for developing a ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ system. 

The study of anthocyanins in wines and grapes has been the subject of numerous research works over the years due to their important role in enology regarding their contribution to wine sensory properties.

Following anecdotal evidence of unwanted ‘tropical’ character in red wines resulting from vineyard interventions and a subsequent yeast trial observing higher ‘red fruit’ character correlated with higher thiol concentrations, the role of polyfunctional thiols in commercial Australian red wines was investigated.
First, trials into the known tropical thiol modulation technique of foliar applications of sulfur and urea were conducted in parallel on Chardonnay and Shiraz.1 The Chardonnay wines showed expected results with elevated concentrations of 3-sulfanylhexanol (3-SH) and 3-sulfanylhexyl acetate (3-SHA), whereas the Shiraz wines lacked 3-SHA. Furthermore, the Shiraz wines were described as ‘drain’ (known as ‘reductive’ aroma character) during sensory evaluation although they did not contain thiols traditionally associated with ‘reductive’ thiols (H2S, methanethiol etc.).

The landscape is defined by the European convention of the landscape (Florence, October 20, 2000) like part of the territory as perceived by the populations, whose character results from the action of natural and/or human factors and their interrelationships. This convention is based on the contribution cultural, ecological, environmental, social of the landscapes and aims at a reinforcement of the tools of protection and valorization in particular in the agricultural policies, of regional planning and town planning. Moreover, it encourages a step of identification and qualification of the landscapes and underlines the need for developing the sensitizing and the training of the actors concerned.