Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Soil variability effects on vine rootzones and available water

Soil variability effects on vine rootzones and available water

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this work is educating people about soil variability, vine rootzone depth and readily available water holding capacity. The concept of terroir is readily discussed in the wine industry but many people involved are unable to describe a soil profile and interpret its limitations that impact on vine growth, fruit quality and wine produced. This paper discusses soil physical characteristics important to vine root growth and readily available water holding capacity (RAW).

Background and Results: Identification of the soil texture, structure and coarse fragment content is required to determine a vine rootzone depth and readily available water holding capacity (RAW).  Vine rootzone depths are dependent on soil texture and structure. For example vine roots will penetrate 50 cm into a friable sub-angular or angular blocky clay, but only 30 cm into prismatic, columnar or lenticular clay.  Vine rootzone depths are used to calculate the RAW value (mm) of the soil profile and consequently irrigation management units and design.  Water retention curve data used to calculate RAW values uses the relationship between water content and matric potential (Childs, 1940), which is dependent on soil texture and structure (Hillel, 1982). The predicted rootzone depth and RAW values will therefore be dependent on the changes in a landscape which is part of the concept of terroir.

Three examples of soil profile characteristics from a 40 ha property located on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia are presented:

  • Soil 1 is a yellow Sodosol (Isbell, 1996) with deep sand over massive sandy clay.  The predicted rootzone depth is 70 cm and the RAW value 36 mm.  Vine roots are limited by the massive yellow sandy clay at 40 cm;
  • Soil 2 is a red Chromosol (Isbell, 1996) with shallow sandy clay loam topsoil over friable angular blocky clay and clay soil carbonate in the lower subsoil.  The predicted rootzone depth is 60 cm and the RAW value 36 mm.  Vine roots will colonise 50 cm of the friable clay and will penetrate the soil carbonate in the lower subsoil;
  • Soil 3 is a Calcarosol (Isbell, 1996) with sandy clay loam and 50% calcareous rock fragments to 50 cm, below which is un-weathered calcareous shale rock.  The predicted rootzone depth is restricted by the calcareous rock and the high percentage of coarse fragments reduces the RAW value to 18 mm. 

Conclusions: 

The volume of soil utilised by vine roots and the RAW value are governed by soil physical properties which change with position in the landscape, the concept of terroir.  

Significance and Impact of the Study: Soil profile characterisation is essential to all forms of agriculture and horticulture.  Understanding how soil variability impacts on vine root growth, fruit quality and wine production is the essence of terroir.

DOI:

Publication date: March 17, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type: Video

Authors

Geoff Kew1*

1Kew Wetherby Soil Survey Pty Ltd, Second Valley, South Australia, Australia, 5204

Contact the author

Keywords

Soil monolith, soil variability, soil profile description, soil horizon, field hand texture, soil structure

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

Which heat test can realistically estimate white wine haze risk?

Different heat tests are used to predict the dose of bentonite necessary to prevent wine haze after bottling. The most used tests are 60-120 min. at 80°C. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information about the relationship between these tests and the turbidities observed in the bottles after the storage/transport of the wines in realistic conditions, when temperatures reach 35-42°C during 3-12 days.

Fermentative volatile compounds and chromatic characteristics can contribute to Italian white wines diversity

Perceived aroma plays an important role in wine quality, and it depends mainly on the volatile composition. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from grapes and those formed during winemaking are involved in the sensory complexity of wines. In aroma-neutral winegrape varieties, the winemaking process itself, and particularly alcoholic fermentation (AF), impacts strongly on the organoleptic characteristics of wines due to the formation of volatile alcohols, acids, and esters. In addition, phenolic compounds could contribute not only to the wine color but also to VOCs evolution during AF.

GC-O and olfactoscan approaches to reveal premature aging markers in Chardonnay wine

Molecular markers of wine oxydation, such as sotolon or Strecker’s aldehydes that induce respectively nut or curry and boiled vegetables or wilted rose odors, can be percieved as a default by consumers. These volatile compounds are especially formed during the premature aging of wine, but it is likely that several contributing compounds are still unknown as is their combined contribution. This study was carried out to identify the markers of oxydation in Chardonnay wine by Gas Chromatography Olfactometry (GC-O) and to study the impact of these markers on the complex wine aromatic buffer using the Olfactoscan approach.A Chardonnay wine (2018-vintage), taken after malolactic fermentation without sulphites addition, was submitted to an artificial oxidation to simulate more or less prononced premature oxidation. Volatile compounds were extracted by Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) and analysed by GC-O with a panel of 13 trained subjects. The same extract was also submitted to a second analysis based on the Olfactoscan technique, which allowed to evaluate the impact of each volatile compounds on the complex aromatic buffer of a non-oxidized wine delivered as background odor. Preliminary results revealed three types of behavior. On the one hand, several odor zones appeared only with the background odour, suggesting a synergy effect induced by the compounds in the aromatic buffer. Conversely, odor-active compounds could not be perceived within the background odor suggesting a masking effect. Finally several compounds were found to contribute as key odorants for wine oxydation once mixed with the aromatic buffer. These compounds are still to be identified using complementary techniques.

Identification and quantification of c-glucosidic ellagitannins and their derivative in red wine aged in oak barrels

The C-glycosidic ellagitannins constitute a subclass of hydrolyzable tannins of remarkable structural diversity. In this work we first achieved the hemisynthesis of flavano-ellagitannins, then we used them to develop a new efficient detection and quantification procedure for the C-glycosidic ellagitannins as well as flavano-ellagitannins.

Adsorption capacity of phenolics compounds by polyaniline materials in model solution

The aim of this work was to study the trapping capacity of four polyaniline polymers towards phenolic compounds in wine-like model solutions. METHODS: The model wine solution was composed of 12% (v/v) and 4 g/L of tartaric acid adjusted to pH = 3.6. A series of centrifuge tubes (15 mL) were filled with 10 mL of model solution enriched with 50 mg/L of five phenolic compounds (i.e., Gallic acid, caffeic acid, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, and rutin), and treated with different doses of PANI polymer (i.e., 0, 2, 4 and 8 g/L). After the addition of the polymer, the samples were stirred using a platform shaker at room temperature (20 ºC) for 2, 8, 16 and 24 h. All treatments included three replications.