Viticulture
25 May 2022
Consequences of the 2021 season on yields from vineyards in Wallonia
The vineyard area in Wallonia (Belgium – Figure 1.a) has grown steadily in recent years, from 150 ha (for 36 properties) in 2018 to 300 ha (for 64 properties) by the end of 2021. However, in 2021, Walloon vineyards were severely affected by ...
27 April 2022
A few words on grapevine winter buds and pruning in consideration of sap flow
One objective of pruning it to manage yield per vine (or per m2) and this is achieved by regulating the number of latent buds (i.e. buds which bear the primordia of ...
10 February 2022
What could be the architectural forms of future vines adapted to climate change: a new challenge! Let’s discuss the Gobelet (Bush Vine)
The architectural form of a vineyard is the result of the training system (plant spacing, geometry, pruning, trellising), the vigour of the plant material (soil x climate x cultivar/rootstock) and other cultural practices implemented each ...
15 December 2021
Effect of pruning and mechanical fruit thinning on crop load and berry and wine composition of Tempranillo in Texas
Tempranillo is the second most planted variety in Texas. However, over-cropping can be an issue. Crop load can be managed by pruning and mechanical fruit thinning. Mechanizing fruit thinning provides three benefits: yield reduction, berry ...
10 November 2021
Which routes for optimal yield sampling in viticulture?
Estimating vineyard crop yield is important for preparing harvesting operations and vatting. Estimations are generally carried out by sampling shortly before harvest and observations are made on a limited number of sampling sites. The sampling ...
27 October 2021
Auxin-type herbicide drift: effects on grapevine leaf functioning and reproductive performance
Auxin-type herbicides are widely used to control broad-leafed weeds in cereal crop fields and pastures. Vapour drift, however, can spread several kilometres and therefore reach nearby vineyards. When grapevines are ...
13 October 2021
Leaf area management affects grape nitrogen content
Grape nitrogen content at harvest plays a decisive role in the kinetics of alcoholic fermentation and in the formation of wine aromas, particularly in the case of white wines. Viticultural practices have evolved considerably in recent decades ...
22 September 2021
The unique and extreme vineyards of Santorini Island (Cyclades)
Own-rooted and phylloxera-free vines have been cultivated on the volcanic soil of Santorini for thousands of years. All this time, vines have been cultivated by using two traditional training systems, the ...
8 September 2021
Review of vine water deficit. What levers for the vineyard in the short and medium term?
In the context of climate change, most wine-growing regions are experiencing periods of water deficit, or even water stress, as well as heatwaves. The proven increase in average temperatures has led to a shift in the phenological stages of the ...
27 August 2021
The role of diaphragm as a natural resistance to the necrosis produced by pruning cuts
Long before the scientific method was created, vine pruning was established as an art as early as at the beginning of the Christian era. Pruning is a way of reducing the vegetative part of the vine in order to limit its natural growth, and ...
16 June 2021
Preventing ESCA in Vitis vinifera by proscribing vine training systems or mutilating pruning methods
To illustrate the influence of vine training systems or pruning methods or regimes on the development of the grapevine wood disease, ESCA, a synthesis has been realized from the results obtained within the framework of two projects, one called ...
21 April 2021
Nighttime transpiration: does it contribute to water stress in grape?
Climate change is driving the search for grapevine cultivars and/or rootstocks that use water more efficiently. Recently, there has been increasing attention on nighttime transpiration. The reasoning is simple. While daytime transpiration ...
17 March 2021
Long-term adaptation of European viticulture to climate change: an overview from the H2020 Clim4Vitis action
Climate change is a major challenge to viticulture worldwide. The adaptation potential of the different strategies to cope with climate change still embraces many uncertainties (e.g., unpredictable social-economic developments and land-use ...
10 March 2021
Short-term adaptation of European viticulture to climate change: an overview from the H2020 Clim4Vitis action
Viticulture is exposed and vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change. In Europe, owing to the high socio-economic value of the winemaking sector, the development of adaptation strategies to mitigate climate change impacts will be of ...
17 February 2021
Grapevine berry shrivelling, water loss and cell death: an increasing challenge for growers in the context of climate change
Late ripening berry dehydration is an important phenomenon that occurs through grape berry water loss due to the alteration of the fruit water budget when transpiration and potential water back flow to the plant exceed the import of water into ...
14 January 2021
Grapevine double cropping: a reality, not a myth
The main drawback of the forcing vine regrowth technique is the loss of yield (Martínez de Toda, 2020). In order to avoid such loss of yield and not eliminate the primary clusters already ...
28 October 2020
How to measure and manage the soil effect in terroir expression
Terroir relates the taste of wine to the place where it was produced. It involves the influence of climate, soil, cultivar and viticultural practices. Huge progression has been achieved over the past years in the understanding of how the soil ...
30 September 2020
Berry primary and secondary metabolites in response to sunlight and temperature in the grapevine fruit zone
The chemical composition of berries at harvest, which will affect wine styles, is determined by complex physiological processes occurring from set through the fruit’s lifetime to maturity, and this is closely ...
18 September 2020
Leveraging the grapevine drought response to increase vineyard sustainability
Climate change will likely increase the risk of drought because of increased temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, and growers are already struggling to adapt. This is apparent in the increased use of irrigation in traditionally ...
7 September 2020
Key facts about rotundone and practical ways to pepper your wine with this fascinating aroma compound
In 2008, the sesquiterpene rotundone was identified as the main contributor to the aroma of black pepper in wine. Since then, this potent aroma compound has been detected in several grape varieties. In most cases, rotundone is positively ...
12 August 2020
Does water deficit negatively impact wine grape yield over the long term?
Like many other woody perennial crops, grapevine reproductive development occurs over a two-year cycle. Given that water deficits are commonplace in viticulture, especially for red wine grape production, this raises questions about how water ...
6 August 2020
Downy mildew is able to carry out its sexual cycle on resistant grape varieties
Previous studies have shown that new resistant grape cultivars limit epidemics caused by asexual reproduction of downy mildew. However, until now, there was a lack of knowledge on the sexual phase of the pathogen. This study demonstrates that ...
1 July 2020
Forcing vine regrowth: a new technique to delay grape ripening until a cooler period
One of the most important climate change-related effects on wine grapes is the advance in harvest period. A strategy to counteract this effect consists in postponing berry ripening until the conditions are cooler. A technique for forcing vine ...
24 June 2020
Strategies for adapting vineyards to a changing climate. (Re)-Learning from Mediterranean viticulture
Mediterranean areas face high temperatures, heat waves, and episodes of drought. These episodes are becoming more frequent in non-Mediterranean areas due to climate change. This paper will address viticultural practices used by Mediterranean ...
10 June 2020
A few words on grapevine leaf water potential
The majority of vineyards are grown under limiting water supply, with consequences on grapevine physiology, berry growth and composition/quality versus wine styles. Assessing vine water status is crucial to understand vine function and to ...