Environmental and Management Practices Affecting Grape Composition and Wine Quality - A Review

Abstract

World production of wine has steadily risen over recent years and consumption has not kept pace with this increase, thus many countries have surpluses of wine which pose problems in international trade. Despite these problems, there is not, generally, a surplus of high quality wines. Quality is not easy to define, but ideally, it should be related to intrinsic visual, taste, or aroma characters which are perceived as above average for that type of wine. Usually this is reflected in the price paid for that wine — although price is not necessarily a reliable indicator since it can be influenced also by fashion, tradition, availability and personal preferences. Unfortunately, despite the many references to quality and the amount of work which directly or indirectly refers to it, there is still confusion over what contribution climates, sites, and viticultural practices really make. This paper is a review of the effects of these environmental and management practices which may change grape composition and wine quality. Its scope is limited to table wines rather than fortified wines.