Proceedings of Terroir 1996

In this study macro and micro nutrients of plants (N = NH4 + NO3 , P, K, Ca, Na, Zn, Mn, Fe and Cu) were determined both in soil solution and bleeding sap and compared each other. Bleeding sap was collected from the nine varieties of grapevine Cvs. grafted on 5BB rootstock and grown in different soil conditions. For all varieties, plant nutrients content in bleeding sap as higher than in soil solution except for Ca and Na. While in soil solution Ca content was found at 10209 ppm, this value in bleeding sap was 49.20 ppm (Kozak Beyazy), 55.38 ppm (Trakya Ylkeren), 50.37 (Cardinal) and 74.27 ppm (Tekirdaô Çekirdeksizi) respectively. For the same varieties the Na values were as follows : 7.16 ppm (in soil solution) : 4.8, 3.23, 4.21,4.58 ppm (in bleeding sap) respectively. K content in bleeding sap was higher than in soil solution for a few varieties, and lower in some varieties. Traces of Fe and Cu were found in both media.

La Région Piemonte a commencé en 1994 un projet de caractérisation des productions vitivinicoles des terroirs du Barolo (Piemonte, Italie) par une équipe pluridisciplinaire avec la participation de 6 Instituts de recherche qui travaillent dans la Région et la collaboration de 2 Associations des producteurs viticoles et des organismes de valorisation du vin Barolo.

The historian starts from a scientific, rigorous and recent definition of the wine-growing region. “A viticultural terroir is made up of several homogeneous units: geological and pedological elements (texture,
grain size, thickness, mineralogical nature, chemical components), geomorphological (altitude, slope, exposure), climatological (rainfall, temperature, insolation)”. Absent from this definition, the man is fortunately reintroduced a little further. By associating viticulture and winemaking, it forms a “couple” with the terroir and this couple.

Les buts principaux de cet essai, sont la mise en évidence des effets traitement agroviticole et millésime, par une recherche de liens entre les données vendanges et sensorielles des vins issus.

Different terroirs have been identified in Bolgheri area (a viticultural appellation in the Tirrenian coast of Tuscany) by the aid of pedological, landscape and agronomic observations in 1993. Numerous preliminary observations suggested that wines obtained from these different terroirs were unique.

In this last ten years period, there has been many integrated and interdisciplinary studies to determine the aptitude of different zones to viticulture (Lulli et al., 1989 ; Costantini, 1992 ; Fregoni et al., 1992). The researches needed some différent knowledges about environment characteristics (soil, climate), ecology, vineyard management, vine genetic, winemaking and sensory analysis. The interaction of all these knowledge produced the assessment about the environmental vocation (Scienza et al., 1992). By means of this metodology, the “viticultural vocation” joined the word “zoning”, that is the territory parting for its ecopedological and geographical characteristics in relation to adaptative answer of winegrape (Morlat, 1989).

A worrying drop in the acidity of wines has been observed in many wine regions, such as Bordeaux (Merlot), Burgundy (Pinot Noir), Côtes-du-Rhône (Grenache) or Rioja (Tempranillo). This lack of acidity is particularly marked in the Midi-Pyrenean vineyards of the Côtes du Frontonnais (Tournier, 1993). However, the acidity of a wine is one of the main factors of its quality, in fact, a low acidity combined with an insufficient tannic structure leads to rapid oxidation of wines and makes them age prematurely.

La place prépondérante que prend le Massif Jurassien en Franche-Comté confère à la région un caractère montagneux qui a orienté l’agriculture vers l’élevage laitier. Cette vocation pastorale marquée et de rudes conditions climatiques sont à l’origine de la production, attestée depuis l’Antiquité, d’un fromage de réserve pour la longue période hivernale. Cette tradition fromagère, liée à des prairies naturelles, a perduré jusqu’à nos jours. La qualité et la spécificité du produit actuel, le fromage de Comté, ont été reconnues dès 1952 par l’attribution d’un label et dès 1958, par la reconnaissance d’un périmètre d’appellation d’origine contrôlée, l’A.O.C. Comté (fig. 1).

Le cru de Bonnezeaux est une des appellations prestigieuses des vins liquoreux et moelleux des Coteaux du Layon et sa réputation est ancienne. L’INAO a effectué sa délimitation en 1953. Le vignoble est situé au nord de la ville de Thouarcé et au sud du village de Bonnezeaux, le long du versant rive droite du Layon, exposé au sud-ouest. La superficie du vignoble est de 156 ha.

Over the past few decades, viticultural research has made numerous contributions which have made it possible to better understand the behavior of the vine as well as its response to the conditions imposed on it by the environment and agronomic practices. However, these results have only rarely been used in the practical management of vineyards because the research has been carried out using partial experimental models where reality is only represented by a few factors which are sometimes even made more complex by the introduction of elements foreign to the existing situation and difficult to apply to production (varieties, methods of cultivation, management techniques, etc.). To these reasons, one could add a low popularization of the results obtained, as well as the difficulty of implementing the scientific contributions, which does not allow the different production systems to fully express their potential. This limit of viticultural research can only be exceeded by the design of integrated projects designed directly on and for the territory. Indeed, only the integrated evaluation of a viticultural agro-system, which can be achieved through zoning, makes it possible to measure, or even attribute to each element of the system, the weight it exerts on the quality of the wine.

Dans la région des Coteaux du Layon, en Maine et Loire, l’effet terroir et son déterminisme sont étudiés dans le cadre de la production des vins liquoreux.
Ces vins sont le résultat d’une maturité poussée au delà de celle prévue par la nature afin de donner aux baies une teneur en sucre et en matière sèche très forte, pour mieux valoriser ces effets de la surmaturation, les baies sont récoltées selon la méthode des tries successives (Asselin et al, 1996). Ainsi, on ne récolte à chaque passage que les grains ayant atteint le niveau de concentration requis pour obtenir des vins à fort degré d’alcool avec des sucres résiduels.

A study of the influence of environmental factors on the ripening of grapes under the conditions of Alsace is carried out. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of the mesoclimate and pedoclimate. The experiment is conducted on a network of plots of gewurztraminer grafted on SO4. The production conditions are standardized throughout the device.

In addition to studies on the edaphic and landscape characteristics of the environment (Dolédec, 1995), the characterization of the physiology of the vine and of parasitism during its vegetative cycle represents an essential component of knowledge and management of the terroirs.

The Champagne vineyard extends over 35,300 ha under the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, of which 30,000 are in production. It mainly covers 3 departments: in order of importance, Marne (68% of the appellation area), Aube (22%) and Aisne (10%), and more anecdotally Haute Marne and Seine and Mame. It is a young vineyard (for more than half of the surface, the winegrowers have the experience of only one generation of vines), and fragmented (more than half of the exploitations extend over less than 1 ha; the average size of a cadastral parcel is 12 ares).

The analysis of the distribution of natural plant populations allows an ecological characterization of cultivated environments in thermal, water and trophic terms; it guides the choice or selection of plants (or grape varieties) to cultivate (Astruc et al ., 1984, 1987; Delpoux, 1971; Jacquinet and Astruc, 1979). This approach has given good results in areas where the topography is the determining factor in the ecological differentiation of the terroirs.