From Vineyard Soil to Wine Fermentation: Microbiome Approximations to Explain the "terroir" Concept

Area of Science:

• Enology and Viticulture
• Microbiology
• Genomics

Background:

• Wine production evolved from spontaneous microbial fermentations to controlled industrial processes.
• The concept of terroir encompasses analytical parameters, with soil biology and its microbial diversity being crucial but historically underestimated.
• Soil microbiomes are reservoirs for grapevine-associated microbes, influencing soil properties, grapevine health, yield, and wine's sensory profile.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current knowledge on vine and wine microbiomes, focusing on their biological roles.
• To explore the technical basis of next-generation sequencing pipelines for microbiome analysis.
• To highlight the importance of -omics technologies in advancing wine research and industry practices.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing scientific literature on vine and wine microbiomes.
• Discussion of metagenomic techniques and next-generation sequencing (NGS) pipelines.
• Overview of molecular and bioinformatics tools for microbiome analysis.

Main Results:

• Soil microbiota significantly impacts soil chemistry, grapevine health, and wine's final sensory properties.
• Understanding microbial ecological niches and population dynamics is critical for precision enology.
• Metagenomic techniques are increasingly applied in enology for detailed microbiome characterization.

Conclusions:

• The study of vine and wine microbiomes is essential for knowledge-based enology and developing precision practices.
• Integrating microbiome insights can enhance wine quality, distinctive characteristics, and economic value.
• -omics technologies offer powerful tools for future wine research and industry innovation.