Terroir 2006 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 The sensory features of the landscapes

The sensory features of the landscapes

Abstract

When someone watches a hilly landscape, the image beauty creates emotions and frames of mind not easily forgettable, but sometimes man’s intervention by means of soil movement and reduction of the natural biodiversity can significantly modify the landscape and consequently the above-mentioned emotions. One speculates if sensory appreciation of a wine may be strongly affected by psychological factor: landscape beauty. Just before the beginning of the trial, an analysis of the territorial features (morphology, vineyard extension, biodiversity, etc.) was performed in order to well characterise the typical landscape of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene hills. Since 2004 sensory evaluations of Prosecco wines coming from the two above mentioned viticultural areas was carried out with the aim to evaluate how landscape emotionally influences wine appreciation. The results proved the important role of the frame of mind (created by the projected images) on wine perception: landscape becomes an added value for the wines. A change in the original morphology of the landscape will result in a different emotional acceptability, and also the wine quality perception will be affected. In this trial, both the chemical composition of the grapes (sugars and aroma compounds) and the sensory perception of the wines (olfactory notes) were shown to be significantly influenced by soil movement. There is a loss of vocation due to the soil disruption, and a comparison between natural and moved soils proved that there was a great difference in terms of microbial activity and root development probably due to the lack of organic matter.

DOI:

Publication date: January 12, 2022

Issue: Terroir 2006

Type: Article

Authors

Diego TOMASI (1), Paolo SIVILOTTI (1), Domenico LUCIANI (2) and Marzio POL (3)

(1) CRA-Istituto Sperimentale per la Viticoltura, Viale XXVIII Aprile 26, 31015 Conegliano (TV), Italy
(2) Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, Treviso, Italy
(3) Enologist, Treviso, Italy

Contact the author

Keywords

Landscapes, earth movement, root distribution, grape composition, wine sensory analysis

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2006

Citation

Related articles…

Understanding colloidal instability in white wine model solutions: A study focused on the effect of polysaccharides and salts onto bentonite efficiency

A white wine model solution (12% v/v ethanol, 4 g/L tartaric acid, pH 3.2) was used to assess wine colloidal instability as well as the influence of several wine components on bentonite performance in protein removal.

Influence of a spontaneous cover crop on the vineyard and soil erosion under Mediterranean climate

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.

Use of the stics crop model as a tool to inform vineyard zonages

STICS est un modèle de culture développé à l’INRA (France) depuis 1996. Il simule les bilans de carbone, d’eau et d’azote dans le système culture-sol, piloté par des données climatiques journaliéres. Il calcule à la fois des variables agricoles (rendement en quantité et qualité) et environnementales (pertes en eau et en azote). Une des originalités de STICS est son adaptabilité à de nombreuses cultures (herbacées, ligneuses, annuelles, pérennes) rendue possible par le choix de paramètres génériques et d’options de formalismes. Le travail présenté traite, dans un premier temps, des spécificités de STICS pour la vigne en terme de bilan trophique, de fonctionnement énergétique et hydrique et d’estimation des teneurs en sucre en en eau du raisin. Nous montrons ensuite diverses sorties du modèle qui permettent de caractériser des terroirs du vignoble des Côtes du Rhône.

Obtaining new varieties derived from Monastrell for the preparation of low alcoholic wines

The main challenge faced by viticulture is to improve the quality of the wines, adapting them to the new consumer demands that demand wines with lower alcohol content and greater freshness. In the last 30 years, a clear modification has been observed in the composition of the grape due to climate change

The aroma diversity of Italian white wines: a further piece added to the D-Wines project

The wide ampelographic heritage of the Italian wine grape varieties represents a richness in terms of biodiversity and potential market value.