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In viticulture, early-season estimation of average number of grape bunches per vine is crucial for vineyard planning, investments and marketing (Laurent et al., 2021). Although sampling is widely carried out to estimate grape bunches per vine, there is no clearly established sampling protocol that can be used as a reference when performing these estimations. Each practitioner therefore has their own sampling protocol. In this work, the effect of differences between sampling protocols in terms of estimation errors were investigated to give some recommendations on the best possible sampling practices.

Assessing vine water status is crucial to optimising cultural practices, including irrigation strategies, to guarantee environmentally and economically sustainable viticulture in a context of increasing water shortages and global warming. Vine water status can be assessed indirectly, via soil-based or atmospheric-based methods, or directly via plant-based methods. This brief review aims to provide an up-to-date perspective on findings in the literature comparing plant-based methods. Scientific advances regarding hydraulic regulation in vines are outlined and applied to discuss the strengths and limitations of direct methods for assessing vine water status, particularly in the context of drought and/or high vapour pressure deficit (VPD). Finally, the methods are compared according to operational criteria that should help in choosing a tool to assess the vine water status for day-to-day decision making, especially in irrigation.

Estimating vineyard crop yield is important for preparing harvesting operations and vatting. Estimations are generally carried out by sampling shortly before harvest and observations are made on a limited number of sampling sites. The sampling process has obvious practical constraints, such as the time allocated to the operation, which determines both the number of sites to be sampled and the route to reach them.