A.O.C. taureau de Camargue

Spain is one of the main producers of high-quality fortified wines. Particularly some of them elaborated in Andalusia have acquired a great prestige for being unique due to their production in a specific geographical area with traditional methods, the grape variety used, the climate and the soil. Such is their distinguishing feature achieved that they have been protected by the European Union with the indication “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO). Thus, there are four PDO of fortified wines in Andalucía (‘Condado de Huelva’, ‘Jerez Xérès Sherry’, ‘Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda’, and ‘Montilla-Moriles’). Furthermore, within each PDO,there are different categories according to their particular characteristics and winemaking conditions such as the aging process.

Nell’ambiente del Chianti Classico è stato applicato un progetto di zonazione aziendale con l’objettivo di valorizzare le produzioni dei diversi vigneti. In particolare sono stati individuati sette siti, sottoposti a studio particolareggiato per un triennio.

Although there are detailed studies on the microbiota of Vitis vinifera L. grapes, little is known about the diversity of yeast communities present in non-vinifera Vitis ecosystems (i.e., grapes and spontaneously fermenting grape musts). Potentially scientific and/or enological valuable yeast strains from these non-vinifera Vitis ecosystems might never be isolated from V. vinifera L. Using a standard culture-dependent strategy, we studied the population of yeast species during initial stages of spontaneous fermentation of V. labrusca L. (Isabella) grape musts. Rare non-Saccharomyces yeast species were recognized in Isabella, including Candida azymoides, Pichia cecembensis, Candida californica, Candida bentonensis, Issatchenkia hanoiensis and Candida apicola.

Most European vineyards are managed under rainfed conditions, where seasonal water deficit has become increasingly important. The flowering-veraison phenophase represents an important period for vine response to water stress, which is seldomly thoroughly evaluated. Therefore, we aim to quantify the flowering-veraison water stress levels using Crop Water Stress Indicator (CWSI) over 1986–2015 for important European wine regions, and to assess the respective potential Yield Lose Rate (YLR). Additionally, we also investigate whether an advanced flowering-veraison phase may help alleviating the water stress with improved yield. A process-based grapevine model STICS is employed, which has been extensively calibrated for flowering and veraison stages using observed data at 38 locations with 10 different grapevine varieties. Subsequently, the model is being implemented at the regional level, considering site-specific calibration results and gridded climate and soil datasets. The findings suggest wine regions with stronger flowering-veraison CWSI tend to have higher potential YLR. However, contrasting patterns are found between wine regions in France-Germany-Luxembourg and Italy-Portugal-Spain. The former tends to have slight-to-moderate drought conditions (CWSI<0.5) and a negligible-to-moderate YLR (<30%), whereas the latter possesses severe-to-extreme CWSI (>0.5) and substantial YLR (>40%). Wine regions prone to a high drought risk (CWSI>0.75) are also identified, which are concentrated in southern Mediterranean Europe. An advanced flowering-veraison phase may have benefited from cooler temperatures and a higher fraction of spring precipitation in wine regions of Italy-Portugal-Spain, resulting in alleviated CWSI and moderate reductions of YLR. For those of France-Germany-Luxembourg, this can have reduced flowering-veraison precipitation, but prevalent alleviations of YLR are also found, possibly because of shifted phase towards a cooler growing season with reduced evaporative demands. Overall, such a retrospective analysis might provide new insights towards better management of seasonal water deficit for conventionally vulnerable Mediterranean wine regions, but also for relatively cooler and wetter Central European regions.

Vine water status was measured on 96 plots of three vines inside a vineyard block of 0.28 ha during three years: 2003, 2004 and 2005. Three physiological indicators were implemented: stem water potential, carbon isotope discrimination measured on grape sugars at ripeness (δ13C) and canopy temperature measured by high resolution remote sensing. For stem water potential, measurements were taken on every single vine of each plot.