Terroir 2016 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Terroir Conferences 9 Terroir 2016 9 Climates of Wine Regions Worldwide 9 Within vineyard temperature structure and variability in the umpqua valley of Oregon

Within vineyard temperature structure and variability in the umpqua valley of Oregon

Abstract

Climate influences viticulture and wine production at various scales with the majority of attention given to regional characteristics that define the general varieties that can be grown and the wine styles that can be produced. However, within vineyard scale effects of climate can be substantial due to landscape variations. To better understand the effect of local weather and climate on terroir, the goal of this research was to examine within vineyard temperature variations. Temperature data was collected from 23 sites in a commercial 33 ha vineyard in the Umpqua Valley of Oregon over a five-year period during 2011-2015. Dormant period temperatures (Nov-Mar) varied by roughly 1°C across the 23 sites with the extreme minimum temperatures varying by just over 3°C. Spring temperatures (Apr-May) varied by roughly 2°C for the vineyard locations with frost occurrence varying as much as nine days in most years. During the summer (Jun-Aug) maximum temperatures varied more than minimum temperatures across the sites, while extreme maximums ranged nearly 5°C.

During the ripening period (Sept-Oct) diurnal temperatures ranges at the 23 sites averaged 20°C. Over all years and sites the growing season heat accumulation averaged 1467 GDD but ranged from 1181 in the coolest year (2011) to 1705 in the warmest year (2015). The average range of GDD during these vintages shows that within vineyard variability in heat accumulation is 375 GDD. These variations in temperatures and heat accumulation are weakly correlated with elevation differences between the sites, however the combined effects of slope/aspect have more significant correlations with temperatures at these sites, especially minimum temperatures. As a result of the within vineyard differences in temperatures and heat accumulation, this commercial vineyard adequately ripens a range of varieties from Albariño, , Viognier, Syrah, Tempranillo, Grenache, , Touriga Nacional, Tannat and others.

DOI:

Publication date: June 22, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2016

Type: Article

Authors

Henry E. Jones1, Gregory V. Jones1,2

(1) Fault Line Vineyards and Abacela Winery, 12500 Lookingglass Road, Roseburg, Oregon, USA
(2) Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, Oregon, USA

Contact the author

Keywords

terroir, temperature, mesoscale, viticulture, spatial variation

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2016

Citation

Related articles…

Characterisation of viticultural and oenological practices in two French AOC in the middle Loire Valley: comparison of different methods to extract information from a survey among winegrowers

The type of wine is determined by environmental, plant materials and human factors. These factors are numerous and interact together, which makes it difficult to determine the hierarchy of their effects

La producción vitivinícola como fuente de impactos positivos en el medio seminatural

Wine is at risk of being labelled as a dangerous health product, based on studies that focus on its alcohol content. However, multiple studies suggest that moderate consumption is healthy. Changing the focus from health impacts to the environmental and socioeconomic impacts that wine companies cause, what can be said?

Evidence of successful wine business strategies: customer acquisition, value or retention?

This presentation illustrates a series of successful wine businesses, which have managed to counter the downward trend impacting the global industry. How these businesses have been successful is explained through the planning and execution of strategies that focused on a clear and consistent aim in attracting new consumers. These cases add weight to the ehrenbergian position that for a business to be successful it must target new customers as a priority over alternative options like increasing value or improving customer retention.

USING CHECK-ALL-THAT-APPLY (CATA) TO CATEGORIZE WINES: A DECISION-MAKING TOOL FOR WINE SELECTION

Bordeaux is the largest appellation vineyard in France. This contrasting vineyard with varied terroirs offers all styles of wine, resulting from the blending of several grape varieties. If these different profiles make the renown of Bordeaux wines, it can appear as a constraint when the aim is to study Bordeaux wines in their diversity. The selection of a representative sample can be performed by a sensory analysis carried out by trained panelists or by wine professionals, which can take several forms: consensus among experts, conventional descriptive analysis, typicality or quality evaluation. However, because of time, economic, and logistical constraints, these methods have limited applications. As an alternative to classical descriptive analysis, more intuitive methods that do not require training have been proposed recently to describe wines using an expert panel such as Napping, Free Choice or Flash Profiling, CATA or RATA.

IN DEPTH CHARACTERIZATION OF OENOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO LACHANCEA THERMOTOLERANS STARTER STRAINS

Non-Saccharomyces starter cultures became increasingly popular over the years because of their potential to produce more distinctive and unique wines. The major benefit of the use of Lachancea thermotolerans as a fermentation starter is its ability to produce relevant amounts of lactic acid and reduce alcoholic strength, making it valuable for mitigating negative impacts of climate change on grapes and wine quality. Besides, like any other non-Saccharomyces yeast, L. thermotolerans can significantly affect a whole range of other physico-chemical wine parameters.