Historical context Why measuring sap flow leads to understanding nutrient uptake? All vine organs are connected via the sap. Thanks to the flow of sap, nutrients are distributed to plant organs. For the last 10 years sap flow technogies have given new insights into how much water flows from vine […]
Q: What is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act? A: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) consists of three bills signed by CA Governor Edmund Brown Jr. in September 2014 to institute a framework for local, sustainable water management. The SGMA affects water basins designated by the CA Department of Water […]
Update on Napa 2016 vintage, First half of the 2016 season illustrates the effects of warmer temperatures in a context of low water deficit due to high rain supply earlier from El Niño. The 2016 vintage is a unique opportunity to tease apart the effect of warm temperatures alone while […]
Experiment made in 2014 in California on 6 vineyards. Thanks to a grant received from the Water Metropolitan District of Southern California in 2014, Fruition selected six wineries in California to host an experiment: one side of the vineyard was farmed as usual by the team, one side was handled […]
A new technique to manage irrigation in the vineyard The regulation of vine transpiration is a fundamental process that determines the harvest quality. Continuously monitoring the vine transpiration helps to characterize the intensity of water deficit. Transpiration level reflects the simultaneous effects of climate, water, soil and varietal on water […]
After harvest ended in Bordeaux for whites and reds, comments and articles about the 2015 vintage were all over the web : it seemed like another great vintage. At first, during the summer, 2015 was expected to mimic 2003 due to the extreme heat and drought in July. Now that […]
Several definitions exist to characterize grape berry maturity: technological, aromatic, polyphenolic, and enological: Technological maturity is the time point beyond which berries do not accumulate more sugar and do not lose any more acidity. Phenolic maturity takes into account the quantitative and qualitative evolution of the berry polyphenols in the skin (anthocyanin […]
As season goes by and the first berries enter veraison, 2015 promises to be a very hot and dry vintage. Despite a late bud break early April, the 2015 season is now turning into a very early vintage, catching up with 2011. This catch up is explained by temperatures in […]
Thanks to a grant received from the Water Metropolitan District of Southern California, we set up an experiment last year with the help of 6 independent wineries, under contrasted California climates. The goal of the experiment was to evaluate how much irrigation water could be saved and how was affecting yield and maturation compared to […]
Fruition Sciences attended the Giesco conference, which took place in Gruissan and Montpellier, France between May 31st and June 5th. The Giesco is an international group of experts in viticulture who discuss findings about the newest trends in vineyard research and their consequences on fruit and wine composition. Because the group involves […]