The Bergerac guaranteed vintage area « terroirs »

The chemical composition and the sensory characteristics of wine result from dynamic interactions between several factors including grape variety, soil, viticultural techniques, climate conditions, yeasts metabolism, oenological approaches. Recently, Grigg et al.

Grape-growing terroirs were defined according to the method proposed by Falcetti and Asselin (1996) near of Colonia de Sacramento, a city of Uruguay situated on the left of the “Rio de la Plata”.

Nitrogen (N2) is critical in grape berries, especially in organic wine making. After intake, N2 follows various metabolic and allocation routes and, from veraison, partly reallocates into berries. Water deficit affects the N2 nutrition due to a poor diffusion in soil solution and vascular mobilisation. Also, affects photosynthesis and the energy needed for metabolism, whose extent would depend on the stomatal sensitivity of the plant. We have assessed the effect of a moderate water deficit from pea size, in 3 years old field grown potted plants of Chardonnay (CH) and Cabernet Sauvignon (CS), differing in stomatal sensitivity, on the N2 status of plant parts. Water deficit reduced photosynthesis, leaf area and fresh and dry plant mass along the season, but up to a higher extent in CS.

In the winemaking process, several compounds that remain in the grape skins and seeds after the fermentation stage are bioactive-compounds (substances with potential beneficial effects on health) that can be extracted in order to recovery valuable substances with a high commercial value for the cosmetic, food (nutraceuticals) and pharmaceutical industries. The skins contain significant amounts of bioactive substances such as tannins (16-27%) and other polyphenolic compounds (2-6.5%) in particular, catechins, anthocyanins, proanthocyanins, quercetin , ellagic acid and resveratrol.

The winery and distilling spirits industry generate a remarkable amount of by-products and wasted, that are not properly managed, posing socioeconomic problems and environmental risks, due to its seasonal and polluting characteristics.