Soil Moisture Vs Wine Quality: How Fasal is bringing joy in winemaking
Two important factors which determines winegrape quality are Brix and Berry size. If you’ve ever glanced at a wine bottle tech sheet then you’ve probably come across the words “Brix” with a number after it, such as 19.5, 23 or sometimes up to 26.
Brix (°Bx) is a way to measure the potential alcohol content of a wine before it’s made by determining the sugar level in grapes. Each gram of sugar that’s fermented will turn into about a 1/2 gram of alcohol.
Grapevines are often cultivated under mild water stress, caused by particular pedo-climate conditions (rainfall timing or available soil water in the root zone). When a grapevine goes into water stress one of its first functions is to reduce the growth of new plant shoots which compete with the grape clusters for nutrients and resources.
The lack of water also keeps the individual grape berries down to a smaller size which increase its skin to juice ratio. As the skin is filled with color phenols, tannin and aroma compounds, the increase in skin-to-juice ratio is desirable for the potential added complexity the wine may have.
The amount of water that reaches the root system and the time for which the vine is “stressed” determine the amount of soluble solids and acidity which ultimately affects the taste of the wine.
To manage such conditions with the intention to achieve optimal water in order to enhance quality, understanding soil moisture or water stress at root zone is very very important.
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With the help of Fasal, winemakers are now able to monitor and manage water stress level at the primary and the secondary root zone and controlling the Berry size and Brix(°Bx) to enhance the wine quality. Fasal is bringing joy in vine making :).
