Difference between revisions of "Team:Bordeaux/Template:PolicyPracticesEconomy"

Economy

A bit of History

The production of Bordeaux is 6.4 million hectoliters with only 14% for white wines. More than 850 million bottles are sold every year and a economy of more than 3.7 billion €. In 1997, 62% of production volume was sold in France, half in supermarkets. Exports have been multiplied by 2 in the last 20 years. Today, the red wines represent 86% of total volumes produced by the vineyards of Bordeaux, 89% of exports in volume and 92% in value. Yet until 1960, white wines were the main wine production in Gironde. Bordeaux has 12 000 farmers with half vinify their own wine, or 75% by volume. The other 57 are for Caves Cooperatives. Winemakers join the union of their appellation and all of these groups together unions in the Bordeaux Grands Vins Federation which aims to protect the interests of viticulture and steer the Gironde wine policy. The Bordeaux has 400 trading houses including 200 farmers who provide over 70% of turnover in the Gironde wine market. 35% of production is exported.

The Bordeaux vineyard now covers 123,000 hectares for 270,000 hectares of farmland. Soils and Girondins basements are rather shallow. The Gironde, the Garonne and the Dordogne soften the climate and meet the water needs of the vineyard. Found on the left bank of the Gironde and Garonne gravelly, sandy, clay, from the erosion of the Pyrenees. On the right banks, soils are likely limestone and limestone. The warm ocean current of the Gulf Stream accentuates the temperate climate and the Landes forest forms a protective shield against the winds of the ocean.

We can find lots of grapes :
Reds: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot.
Whites: Sauvignon, Semillon, Muscadelle, Ugni Blanc, Colombard.

Apart from small local names among the most famous, all other larger in size, occur depending on the vintage, more or less significant quantities of Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur.

But now, after talking about wine in Bordeaux, let us tell you some key figures of mildew.

In 2010, each hectar or grapevine had received around 16 chemical treatments (this number was 15 in 2006) and varies greatly between regions. Amongst the biological threats on grapevine, mushroom parasites are far ahead of insects and fungi (12 fungicides are used against 2 insecticides and 2 weedkillers). Over 95% of the fongicide treatments in 2010 were due to mildew and oidium, sicknesses that are favorized by rain, humidity and heat. They bring the global quality of the wine down by reducing it's composition in phenols and sugars

The risc of contamination on the leaves begin during the period where the floral buds and futur grapes are growing and lasts until the moment when the grapes touch each other. The sensibility period between oidium and mildew have common momments and vinyards don't heasitate to mix anti-mildew and anti-oidium solutions making the concentrations of these chemicals twice more concentrated in the grounds.

What are the problems with these treatments? Are they really efficient?

To have a really efficient treatment what would you need?

little comics ?

iGEM Bordeaux: Contacting vineyards

To try to see the effect that mildew has on wine producers iGEM Bordeaux contacted numerous castles in the region and attended the two biggest wine assemblies in Bordeaux: La foire au vin and Vinexpo. This allowed us to speak to the roducers on how much their production is threatened by oomycetes such as mildew and to see if thy would eventually be interested in an alternative preventive solution that would be eco-friendly. At the same time, this allowed us to search for sponsors in the region to raise money for our labwork