Soil Microbial Communities and Wine Terroir: Research Gaps and Data Needs.

Area of Science:

• Viticulture and Enology
• Soil Microbiology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Wine terroir is traditionally linked to soil's physical and chemical properties.
• The contribution of vineyard soil microbes to wine terroir is not fully understood.
• Vineyard soil microbes play a role in carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature on the role of soil microbial communities in vineyards.
• To assess the influence of these microbes on grapevine health, grape composition, and wine quality.
• To identify research gaps and propose future research directions.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of 24 studies published between 2015 and 2023.
• Analysis of research trends from foundational biogeography studies to targeted metabolite and flavor investigations.
• Identification of methodological limitations, particularly the reliance on targeted sequencing.

Main Results:

• Early studies (2015-2018) established soil microbial biogeography and management effects.
• Recent studies (2019-2023) focus on microbial-grape metabolite links, soil depth distribution, and wine flavor impacts.
• A significant gap exists in understanding microbial functions due to limited use of advanced omics techniques.

Conclusions:

• Soil microbiomes are crucial for wine production, influencing grape chemistry and wine quality.
• Future research should employ high-throughput omics (shotgun sequencing, transcriptomics) to elucidate microbial functions.
• Long-term studies on management practices, climate change, grapevine trunk diseases, and bacteriophages are recommended for sustainable viticulture.