In recent years, terroir characteristics have become increasingly important for the wine industry. A recent study conducted in the Vaud viticultural area has shown that vine nitrogen nutrition appeared to be one of the most important parameter that influence the vine-fruit-wine continuum and the wine quality [1]. In order to confirm these results, a large scale study on several sites during five seasons (2006-2010) in the Vaud vineyards were conducted on soil presenting different characteristics (different soil texture and soil water holding capacity) . A given concentration of assimilable nitrogen (20 kg N/ha, urea application) has been supplied on leaves during the berry ripening to simulate (stimulate?) the vine and the berry nitrogen content. To unravel the subtle biochemical changes induced by nitrogen supply on wine composition, a combined metabolomic approach based on reverse phase and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography TOF-MS fingerprints has been undertaken [2]. Several biomarkers in close relation to nitrogen supply could be highlighted by supervised data mining and identified by means of their accurate mass and fragmentation pattern.
