Un Système d’Informations à Références Spatiales sur le Vignoble. Un outil performant d’aide aux recherches sur la caractérisation des terroirs viticoles

The “Terroirs d’Anjou” project led by the Agronomy sector of the Vine and Wine Research Unit of the INRA center in Angers aims to characterize the viticultural terroirs in a study area which includes 29 municipalities in the Maine et Loire and cuts across the Anjou, Coteaux du layon and Coteaux de l’Aubance appellation areas.

The research methodology on viticultural terroirs developed by UVV revolves around two main themes:
– A characterization of terroirs in the field which consists of collecting information relating to the physical components of the environment. Observations on geology, soils and landscapes thus form the basis of the study. This step is similar to a cartographic survey
– A survey conducted among winegrowers in each of the 29 municipalities. This survey is intended to integrate human factors within the study, and to study the possibilities of use as an experimental tool for highlighting the terroir effect. The questionnaire focuses on the behavior of the vine, winemaking, knowledge and empirical management of the terroirs by the winegrower.

This study therefore entails a large volume of information which must be managed in an optimal way to facilitate their processing, while preserving their particular character of localized data. Indeed, there is no direct relationship allowing to associate the data of the investigation on the one hand with those of the characterization on the other hand. The only relationship existing between these two levels of information is of the spatial superposition type. To use it and thus cross the two types of information, it is necessary to manage the associated geographical objects.