Proceedings of International Terroir Congress 1996

It is not easy at first sight to give an exhaustive definition of the notion of terroir as it can be simplified or complicated at will. Thus the vagueness that surrounds this concept leaves the door open to various interpretations of the terroir. These tend towards a questionable level of objectivity because the fields they explore are not sufficient to explain the notion on their own, constituting only part of a whole.

Cette communication sera basée sur les résultats d’une étude auprès des consommateurs réalisée par la société G3 pour l’I.N.A.O. sur les attitudes des consommateurs vis à vis des produits de terroir et des A.O.C. et sur un mémoire de DEA soutenu par Monsieur J-C. DURIEUX à l’Université de Paris X Nanterre, consacré aux variables explicatives du comportement d’achat des vins A.O.C.

The studies developed by INRA and UV, in Angers, concern wine-growing areas and their optimized management, both from an agro-viticultural and oenological point of view. Previous work (Morlat, 1989) made it possible to give a scientific dimension to the concept of viticultural terroir and demonstrated the considerable influence of this production factor on the quality and typicity of wines (Asselin et al, 1992 ) . A methodology for the integrated characterization of terroirs, based on the "Basic Terroir Natural Unit" (considered as the smallest spatial unit of territory usable in practice, and in which the response of the vine is homogeneous), has been development (Riou et al , 1995).

Le sujet proposé dans le thème “l’environnement juridique” est plus économique que juridique, et constitue une sorte de complément au sujet qui l’a précédé : analyse des marchés, stratégies commerciales et terroirs”.

Depuis un an, nous essayons de mettre en place un projet de développement socio-économique et culturel d’une zone située essentiellement au sud de la Garonne et à cheval sur 3 départements (le Lot et Garonne, le Gers et le Tam et Garonne) et sur 2 régions (l’Aquitaine et Midi Pyrénées): le pays du Brulhois, “porte de la Gascogne”.

The French viticultural appellation areas are the result of an empirical, historical and evolutionary selection which, generally, has consecrated a match between natural factors, grape varieties and viti-vinicultural practices. The notion of terroir is the main basis of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in viticulture. It is based on the one hand on privileged natural factors and on the other hand on the know-how of the winegrowers; the whole allowing the production of a wine endowed with an authenticity and a sensory typicity. Wine-growing practices evolve according to progress in viticulture and oenology, while the natural factors of the terroir are much more stable, with the exception of the vintage. They therefore represent a fundamental pillar of the identity of an appellation vineyard.

“The vine and the wine are great mysteries. Only the vine makes us intelligible what is the true flavor of the earth”. Colette. The notion of terroir has always been the basis of the notion of AOC from which it is inseparable. It is moreover the definition of the production zone which was at the start of the attempts to set up the designation of origin, at the beginning of the century, after the phylloxera crisis.

In the global economic context, an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée must now more than ever control the typicity and originality of the wines it produces. It is in this spirit that the Côtes du Rhône have decided to acquire the means necessary for this control.

The viticulture of the Douro Delimited Region, one of the heirs of ancestral viticulture, traditionally empirical and of quality, while integrating modernity and contemporary tools, respects and has always present the principles on which it was developed.

Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.

Ce travail a pour objet l’analyse des résultats agronomiques obtenus sur trois unités expérimentales du Centre d’Etudes Vitivinicoles du Douro (CEVDouro), localisées dans des écosystèmes différenciés de la Région du Douro/Vin de Porto, à différentes altitudes (130, 330 et 520 mètres) et à des expositions diversifiées (SE, N et W).

Pinot noir is an interesting vat variety for the high quality products it provides in the most suitable areas. In France, the most important Pinot Noir growing areas are Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and the Loire. In Italy, Pinot Noir is grown almost exclusively in the northern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The notion of terroir covers multiple components, from geology, pedology, geomorphology and climatology (Doledec, 1995), to aspects that are less well identified but which also intervene in the “typicality” of wines. This justifies the “zoning” approach (Moncomble and Panigaï, 1990) to define homogeneous areas, under the same agro-viticultural management and also identified at the product level (Morlat and Asselin, 1992).

The Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée area of ​​Cahors (Lot) covers an area of ​​21,700 ha, spread over 45 municipalities, of which only 4,300 are planted with vines. The main grape variety of this AOC is the Cot noir which represents 70% of the grape varieties, thus giving their typicality to the wines of this region; but despite this importance, to our knowledge, its physiology has remained relatively unstudied.

Les fromages d’Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) représentent un enjeu économique important pour la filière laitière (11 % des fromages produits en France sont des fromages d’AOC, et dans certaines régions de montagne, cette proportion dépasse 50 %). Les spécificités de ces fromages et leurs liaisons avec les caractéristiques du terroir constituent un système complexe où interagissent en particulier la technologie fromagère et les caractéristiques des laits (composition chimique en particulier). Ces dernières dépendent elles-mêmes des caractéristiques des animaux (origine génétique, facteurs physiologiques, état sanitaire) et de leur mode de conduite (alimentation, hygiène, traite…) (fig. 1). L’influence de ces facteurs de production (alimentation et type d’animal en particulier) sur les caractéristiques des fromages est fréquemment mise en avant par les fromagers, sur la base d’observations empiriques. Il existe cependant très peu de travaux expérimentaux sur le sujet, en raison, entre autres, de la difficulté de séparer correctement les effets propres de ces facteurs d’amont de ceux liés à la technologie fromagère.