The amount of sunshine: critical criteria for grapes ripening There are a few important indices you want to look at closely when it comes to the ripening period for grapes and the Huglin index is definitely one of them. This index, unlike the Winkler index (Growing Degree Days), takes into […]
Harvest decision 2017: A ripe Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa “should be worth the wait!” We discuss a preliminary analysis of the 2017 vintage effect on berry ripening dynamics. Our main conclusions are synthesized in this short summary below. If you are interested in the rationales and discussion points, please scroll down after the […]
Three days, from June 26 through June 28, about organic and biodynamic viticulture and winemaking. The conference was organized by Organic Winegrowers in New Zealand and held in Blenheim. Blenheim is situated in the largest wine growing region of New Zealand, Marlborough. Most of the vineyards here are Sauvignon Blanc. […]
If you read this blog you are probably interested in understanding the complexity of vine response to contrasted environmental conditions. Everyday scientific results shed new light on plant mechanisms which, if they are properly understood, can help the winegrower optimizing his practices. Today, we discuss the relationship between :root temperature, […]
The concept of growing degree days (GDD) Vineyards are particularly sensitive to climate and especially temperature. That is why phenological vine data has been used to reconstruct temperature series over long past periods (Le Roy Ladurie, 1971; Chuine et al., 2004). For example, Garcia de Cortazar Atauri et al. (2005) […]
Leaving more growing nodes per vine at pruning (to increase vine productivity) and applying deficit irrigation strategies (to increase fruit and wine quality) are are widely used practices, particularly in high yielding vineyards under warm climate. However one may ask how those practices impact vineyard longevity and sustainability ? To […]
The graph below shows the average sugar loading of 250 blocks of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon. It is based on more than 2 500 analyses of sugar quantity per berry, from véraison to harvest, during the 2016 vintage (Figure 1) Figure 1: time variations of sugar per berry in California vineyard in […]
How can a winegrower harness vineyard spatial variability to make better wines? Numerous studies carried out since 2000, on irrigated and non-irrigated vineyards have shown that vineyards exhibit great spatial variability for many factors such as yield or berry quality components (Santesteban et al, 2013). This spatial variability can […]
One of the main challenges for a winegrower before harvest is : “where is it best to sample?” and “how many locations do I need to sample to get a reliable estimate?” In this blog we discuss how to design a sampling scheme to best capture vineyard spatial variability. The plant […]
What is sugar loading? The sugar loading of grape berries (evolution of the quantity of sugars per berry), widely described by Pr. Deloire during the last decade, constitutes a physiological marker integrating the functioning of the vine in its environment. The sugar loading includes two distinct periods: A first period […]
