Founded in January 2007, the UMR 1287 EGFV Mixed Research Unit brings together multidisciplinary competencies, ranging from ecophysiology to molecular physiology, and biochemisty to genetics, dedicated to studying vine operation and the determinants of quality in grape berries.

It involves researchers from the "Environment and Agronomy" (EA) Departments and the INRA "Department of Plant Biology and Improvement" (BAP), along with teaching and research staff at Bordeaux Sciences Agro (formerly ENITAB) and the University of Bordeaux, and plays a key formative role within the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin (ISVV).
It has the following goals:

• identify the environmental (light, water and additives), physiological (sugar, nitrogen, water status, hormones and development stage) and molecular (regulatory genes) variables that control grape quality, and the secondary metabolism in particular;
• model vine and berry operation, at both the physiological and molecular levels;
• understand the interactions between the rootstock and the scion in nutritive, genetic and epigenetic terms;
• implement overarching tools that can be shared by the national and international community.

The research programs focus on two areas which cooperate and exchange concepts, methodological tools and competencies:

• Rootstock/scion interactions (Manager: Nathalie Ollat)
• Environment and berry quality (Manager: Eric Gomès)