Proceedings of International Terroir Congress 1996

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.

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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.

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).

La topographie du vignoble de Côte Rôtie, la prédominance de la non culture ainsi que la structure très légère des sols amènent les vignerons à s’interroger sur l’entretien du sol, la conduite de la fertilisation de leurs parcelles ainsi que sur le développement racinaire de la vigne.

Franciacorta is a viticultural area which extends in the hills to the South of Iseo lake in Lombardy. It is particularly famous for the production of sparkling wines obtained mostly from Chardonnay and Pinot blanc and noir grapes. The name of this territory is of medieval origin and appeared for the first time in 1277 as “Franzacurta”, from the Latin “franchae curtes”, i.e. “tax-free” monasteries. It was geographically delimited in 1429, when it was a territory of the Republic of Venezia.

Natural factors such as the environment in which the vine is grown play an important role in the quality of the wine. If you want to produce a good wine, it is indeed essential to produce quality grapes. To do this, we must enhance and optimize the terroir effect which, for the moment, plays a role that is not very well known. It is therefore essential, for example, to have scientifically established and well quantifiable relationships in order to have the system of areas of controlled origin accepted. R. Morlat (1989) and G. Seguin (1970) have already carried out studies on the role of certain soil factors on grape quality. In particular, they showed the importance of soil temperature and water content.

The research carried out by the URVV of the INRA center in Angers aims to develop a methodology for the integrated characterization of the natural factors of viticultural terroirs, representative of the operating conditions of the vine and the sensory differences of the wines. In this context, the concept of Basic Terroir Unit (UTB) has been developed. The UTB represents a viticultural surface of variable geographical extension, defined as the association in a given place of a geological, pedological and landscape component, Morlat (1989), Riou et al. (1995).

The maturation patterns process has been very studied. In particular the modelization of the sugars and titratable acidity during the ripening period was an important approach, in particular for the prediction of harvest date (Barillere et al., 1988; Jourion et al.,1987; Maujean et al., 1983; Scienza, 1989). In Oltrepò Pavese, the widest viticultural district of Lombardy – Northern Italy – (about 15000 hectares), grape maturation trends shows high variability, due to the large variation in environmental characteristics of vineyards (altitude, exposure, soil type, mesoclimate) and to “cultivar x environment” interaction.

L’étude porte sur trois terroirs du Roussillon, classés dans l’A.O.C. Muscat de Rivesaltes et concerne les 2 cépages de cette appellation : le muscat à petits grains et le muscat d’Alexandrie. Elle a pour objectif de connaître pour un terroir donné le meilleur choix de cépage.

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.

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).

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 qualitative and quantitative distribution of the phenolic compounds in red wines depends on cultivars features, on grapes maturation state, on grapes processing technology including must obtention, as well as on maceration-fermentation method (Margheri, 1981). The last two factors are responsible for the different phenolic composition of the wines produced from the same cultivar.

In the Champagne vineyards, spring frosts are the cause of significant variations in the volume of the harvest which are very penalizing for the trade. This variability is reflected both in time (years without frost alternating with years with severe frosts) and in space. Certain sectors of the vineyard are in fact statistically more susceptible to frost than others, but each year no municipality can consider itself immune to this climatic accident. The objective of the study is precisely to analyze the spatial distribution of frost and to determine its main mechanisms, linked to the topography of the hillsides, their orientation but also to regional meteorological variables.