Soil Temperature and Climate Change: Implications for Mediterranean Vineyards 

Mild to moderate and timely water deficit is desirable in grape production to optimize fruit quality for winemaking. It is crucial to develop robust and rapid approaches to assess grapevine water stress for scheduling deficit irrigation. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has the potential to detect changes in leaf water status, but the robustness and accuracy are restricted in field applications.

The role of soils and bedrock geology has long been acknowledged as a fundamental component of terroir. In South Africa the influence of geology is misunderstood and some important geological components will be highlighted in this paper.

In recent years there has been a growth in interest and number of research studies regarding the application of remote optical and thermal sensing by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in agriculture and viticulture. Many papers report on the use of images to map or estimate the growth and water status of plants, or the heterogeneity of different parcels. Most often, NDVI or other similar indices are used.

Climate variability and rising biotic pressure threaten global viticulture. Modern wine production depends on a limited number of grapevine cultivars, represented by multiple clones that differ slightly in their agronomic, oenological, or stress-tolerance traits.

Monferace project is born from an idea of 12 winegrowers willing to create a new “old style” Grignolino wine and inspired byancient winemaking techniques of this variety (1). Monferace wine is produced with 100% Grignolino grapes after 40 months of ageing, of which 24 in wooden barrels of different volumes. Grignolino is an autochthonous Italian variety cultivated in Piedmont (north-west Italy), recently indicated as a “nephew” of the famous Nebbiolo (2) and is used to produce three different DOC wines. The Monferace Grignolino is cultivated in the geographical area identified in the Aleramic Monferrato, defined by the Po and Tanaro rivers, in the heart of Piedmont and the produced wine is characterized by a high content of tannins, marked when young, that evolve over the years. Its color is generally slight ruby red and garnet red with orange highlights with ageing.