Organic and biodynamic sustainable productions and effect on eligibility and peculiarity of a typical wine

In interaction with climate and genetic or human factors, the soil is a major component of the viticulture terroir. The mineral composition of the soil influences vine performance and wine sensory attributes. Among the elements that vines take from the soil, nitrogen is the one that has the strongest impact on vine physiology, vigor and grape composition. In addition to its major effect on primary metabolites in berries, nitrogen plays also a decisive role in the secondary metabolism, especially in the production of key compounds for berries quality, like volatile thiols, methoxypyrazines and glutathione (GSH).

The vineyard has experienced a general increase in yields mainly due to the elevated use of technology which caused a quality loss of grapes in more than one case. A large percentage of the Spanish vineyard is covered by a Denomination of Origin which limits the productive level of the vineyards as one of its regulations. The maximum production limit is a variable characteristic of each vineyard and is not usually regulated by agronomic criteria, and this explains the fact that each vineyard can reach high quality with a totally different yield from that set by the Denomination of Origin.

Un travail sur les A.O.C. du piémont pyrénéen occidental permet de construire une hiérarchie de paramètres climatiques, géo-pédologiques, morphologiques, de saisir leurs niveaux d’interaction et d’élaborer une méthodologie pour proposer un zonage

Climate change is leading to an increase in average temperature and in the frequency and severity of heatwaves that is already significantly affecting grapevine phenology and berry composition (Webb et al., 2010). This is compounded by water stress, which is well known to increase the vulnerability of grapevines and berries to heatwaves. In hot climate regions like australia, grape production is only possible due to relatively secure supplies of water for irrigation. However, the upper temperature limits for berry survival of well-watered grapevines remains to be tested.

Grapevine is grown grafted in most of the world largely because of Phylloxera. Rootstocks not only provide tolerance to Phylloxera, but also ensure the supply of water and mineral nutrients to the scion. Rootstocks are an important means of adaptation to environmental conditions if we want to conserve the typical features of the currently used scion genotypes. To aid this adaptation, we can exploit the large diversity of rootstocks used worldwide. To fully explore this existing rootstock diversity, this work benefits from the unique GreffAdapt vineyard, in which four scion genotypes were studied onto 55 commercial rootstocks in three blocks. The aim of this study was to characterise rootstock regulation of scion mineral status and how it relates to scion development.