BODEGAS TERRAS GAUDA

from BODEGAS TERRAS GAUDA

A year has passed since the start of the R&D project on Clonal Breeding of the Albariño variety and the results obtained so far are encouraging both on an agronomical and oenological basis.

Three issues stand out from the field studies where significant variations between the clones appeared.

With regards natural resistance to illness significant variations were noted between the clones, with the appearance of clones with high percentage incidence of Mildew or Botrytis, as well as others (at least two) in which the incidence of illness is minimal.
In terms of the phenological conditions (visible leaves, flowering, maturity,etc.),all the clones advanced in the same way towards flowering. At this point the clones showed marked variations, with cases such as that of the two clones that having taken longest to reach pre-maturity, surprisingly became the first to reach full maturity.
With regards the weight of the bunches of the different clones, we found great variations, to the point that the heaviest bunch doubled the weight of the lightest one.

In the tests done on musts and wines produced from each of the clones, there are four variables of great interest to note.

The yield values (litres of must obtained at the press/ kg of grapes produced by the clone), show significant variations, with two clones of particular noteworthiness that had a very high yield and another two that had low yield values.
The values of probable alcohol levels in must obtained from each clone in themselves presented great variations. On becoming wine, the variations were confirmed and we encountered a wine from a clone that had an alcohol level of 13.9, compared to another with a level of 12.5, which implies a striking variation between clones.
Our surprise at the total acidity results was greater still, as we encountered a wine from a clone with a value of 11.6g/l against one with a value of 8.1g/l. This means a percentage variation of 43% between the most and least acidic wines.
Lastly, one area which we consider to be fundamental to our investigation is that of the bouquet of the wines from each of the clones. There were notable variations both in the gas chromatography and in the wine-tasting conducted on each of the wines. In spite of the complexities involved in summarising the variations, we should point out that the dominant bouquets for each wine varied, from those with sharp citrus tones to those with marked floral or strong balsamic characteristics.

It is worth mentioning a clone that produced the best quality wine on wine-tasting. By cross-referencing the agronomical data with the data on the bouquets it emerged that this clone had lighter bunches and smaller berries, so that the percentage of skin content was very high. In the knowledge moreover that the bouquet comes on the whole precisely from the skin, we can conclude that with regards bouquet we should probably concentrate to a greater extent on clones that have these particular small bunch and grape characteristics.

In any case, caution should be shown when it comes to setting down conclusions due to the wait required for data to become available in the next few years that will prove whether the behaviour of clones that appear to have the most interesting characteristics has been sustained.

Bodegas Terras Gauda Since TERRAS GAUDA had always been interested in research and continuous improvement, and making use of the natural resources offered by our production area, the need to pursue several areas of research with a clearly practical application was considered.

TERRAS GAUDA worked in partnership with the Senior Scientific Research Centre (MBG) (www.mbg.csic.es) on a coordinated project on the Recovery and study of minor native vine varieties, oriented towards our own "Caíño blanco", for which we advised on all matters related to micro-vinification and chemical and organoleptic analysis.

Bodegas Terras Gauda Additionally, we are involved in a three-year R&D project within the framework of the Galician R&D Plan (sug.cesga.es) on the Clone selection of the "albariño" variety, for which we have had an experimental plot since 1992 with 115 clones, as well as an experimental winery for the micro-vinification of the different clones. Our aim is to check whether the plants studied are "albariño" or not (using DNA techniques) and free of viruses, as well as determining the resistance to disease of each of the clones, and particularly the quality level of the must and wine obtained from them. This will enable us to determine via grafting in future plantations which clone or clones are most suitable for the kind of wine we make, with uniqueness as our goal.

As an extension to that research project, we are currently working towards research into the selection and isolation of yeast ecotypes from our vineyard, in which we will study the yeast flora and select colonies for isolation, and so, after vinification tests, then have a suitable selected yeast for the control of the fermentation process, as well as special organoleptic characteristics that will add extra personality to the final wine.