Production and technological characteristics of some French clones of the Chardonnay variety in Yugoslavia

To produce premium wines in a specific region is the goal of local oenologists. This study aimed to investigate the influence of soil properties on the flavoromics of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes to provide a better insight into single-vineyard wines. Six commercial Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards were selected in the Manas region to collect berries at three harvest ripeness in three seasons (2019–2021). The six vineyards had little difference in mesoclimate conditions while varying greatly in soil composition.

Copper (Cu) is widely and historically used in viticulture as a fungicide against mildew. Cu has a strong affinity for soil organic matter and accumulates in topsoil horizons. Thus, Cu may negatively affect soil organisms and plants, consequently reducing soil fertility and productivity. The Bordeaux vineyards have the largest vineyard surfaces (26%) within French controlled appellation and a great proportion of French wine production (around 5 million hl per year). Considering the local context of vineyard surfaces decreasing (vine uprooting) and possible new crop plantation, the issue of Cu potential toxicity rises. Therefore, the aims of this work are firstly to evaluate the Cu contamination in vineyard soils of Bordeaux, secondly to produce a risk assessment map for new vine or crop plantation. We used soil analyses from several local studies to build a database with 4496 soil horizon samples. The database was enhanced by means of pedotransfer functions in order to estimate the bioaccessible (EDTA-extractable) Cu in soils of samples without measurements. From this database, 1797 georeferenced samples with CuEDTA concentrations in the topsoil (0-50 cm depth) were used for kriging interpolation in order to produce the spatial distribution map of CuEDTA in vineyard soils. Then, the spatial distribution of Cu was crossed with vine uprooting surfaces and municipality boundaries. CuEDTAconcentrations ranged from 0.52 to 459 mg/kg and showed clear anomalies. Our results from spatial analysis showed that almost 50% of vineyard soil surfaces have CuEDTA concentrations higher than 30 mg/kg (moderate risk for new plantation) and 20% with concentrations higher than 50 mg/kg (high risk for new plantation). A decision-support map based on municipalities was realised to provide a simple tool to stakeholders concerned by land use management.

In red wines, anthocyanins evolve during the wine-making process and ageing. They react with other compounds (such as vinylphenols, acetaldehyde, pyruvic acid…) to form a stable family of compounds called pyranoanthocyanins. Furthermore, the oxidation process can modify the anthocyanic profile of a red wine. It is also interesting to evaluate the occurrence of the different subclasses of pyranoanthocyanins and to characterize their chemical properties. The first objective of this study is to evaluate the occurrence of the different groups of pyranoanthocyanins in an oxidised Merlot wine by a centrifugal partition chromatography strategy. The second goal is to evaluate their relative impact in red wines from Bordeaux region by measuring their concentrations.

Vineyards from mild temperature, high humidity locations receive often treatments with fungicides to prevent damages produced by fungi responsible for mildium, oidium and botrytis infections. In addition, insecticides are also applied to vineyards to fight again pests, which affect directly, or indirectly (as vectors of different diseases), their productivity. A fraction of the above compounds reaches the soil of vineyards, either during application, or when released from the canopy of vines due to rain-wash-off. Thereafter, depending on soil conditions (pH, organic matter) and environmental variables (regimen of rain, slope of vineyards), they might persist in this compartment, be degraded and/or transferred to water masses, modifying the biodiversity of soils and/or affecting the quality of water reservoirs.

The reflections presented here are a synthesis of a set of research on the construction of a scientific logic concerning the relations between the terroir, the vine, the wine, and on the study of a product, the wine, considered as the resulting from many interactions between factors of various orders. This work has benefited greatly from discussions of an epistemological as well as a technical nature with all the researchers at URVV (Angers) and with our colleagues at the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine, over several years.