The composition of bioactive polyphenols from grape canes, an important viticultural byproduct, was shown to be varietal-dependent; however, the influence of soil-related terroir factors remains unexplored. Using spatial metabolomics and correlation-based networks, we investigated how continuous changes in soil features and topography may impact the polyphenol composition in grape canes. Soil properties, topography, and grape cane extracts were analyzed at georeferenced points over 3 consecutive years, followed by UPLC-DAD-MS-based metabolomic analysis targeting 42 metabolites. Principal component analyses on intra-vintage metabolomic data presented a good reproducibility in relation to geographic coordinates. A correlation-driven approach was used to explore the combined influence of soil and topographic variables on metabolomic responses. As a result, a metabolic cluster including flavonoids was correlated with elevation and curvature. Spatial metabolomics driven by correlation-based networks represents a powerful approach to spatialize field-omics data and may serve as new field-phenotyping tool in precision agriculture.
Keywords: correlation network; grape; metabolomics; polyphenols; spatialization; terroir; vineyards.