Terroir 2014 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Terroir Conferences 9 Terroir 2014 9 Grape growing climates, climate variability 9 High resolution climatic zoning of the Portuguese viticultural regions

High resolution climatic zoning of the Portuguese viticultural regions

Abstract

Viticulture and winemaking represent a key sector for the Portuguese economy. As grapevines are strongly governed by atmospheric factors, climate change may impose a major threat to this crop. In this study, the current-past (1950-2000) and future (2041-2070) climatic conditions in Portugal are analyzed using a number of bioclimatic indices, including a new categorized index (CatI). A two-step method of spatial downscaling is applied in order to attain a very high spatial resolution (near 1 km) over Portuguese mainland. Future projections are established using an ensemble of 13 regional climate models, under the IPCC A1B-SRES emission scenario. Results show that CatI integrates the most important bioclimatic characteristics of a given region, and allows the direct comparison between them. Outcomes for the recent-past are in clear agreement with the current geographical distribution of this crop and of the established winemaking regions. Conversely, under future scenarios, projections point to a lower bioclimatic diversity, due to the expected warming and drying throughout the country. This will likely lead to changes in grapevine suitability and wine characteristics of each viticultural region, which may result in additional challenges for the winemaking sector. As such, suitable adaptation measures need to be developed in order to mitigate climate change impacts on the Portuguese viticulture. 

DOI:

Publication date: August 11, 2020

Issue: Terroir 2014

Type: Article

Authors

Gregory V. JONES (1), Helder FRAGA (2), Aureliano C. MALHEIRO (2), José MOUTINHO-PEREIRA (2), Fernando ALVES (3), Joaquim G. PINTO (4,5), João A. SANTOS (2)

(1) Department of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University, Oregon, USA 
(2) CITAB, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal (
(3) ADVID Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Viticultura Duriense, Godim, Portugal 
(4) Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany 
(5) Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom

Contact the author

Keywords

Viticultural zoning, Bioclimatic downscaling, Climate models, Climate change, Portugal 

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2014

Citation

Related articles…

What strategies do wine firms adopt to integrate CSR into their activities? An analysis among Italian wineries

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as defined by the European Commission, is a strategic framework through which companies integrate social, environmental, and economic sustainability into their operations (European Commission, 2001).

Where the sky is no limit — The transformation of wine marketing through text-to-video generation AI model

The introduction of ai-driven tools in digital content creation represents a significant shift in the landscape of marketing, particularly for industries reliant on rich visual storytelling such as the wine sector. The development of ai models like openai’s sora, runway’s gen-2 or google’s lumiere, which can generate realistic video content from textual descriptions, offers promising new avenues for enhancing brand narrative and consumer engagement. This research explores the potential of text-to-video (t2v) ai models to revolutionize wine marketing by creating dynamic, engaging content that captures the essence of vineyards and their products without the need for traditional video production processes.

Application of satellite-derived vegetation indices for frost damage detection in grapevines

Wine grape production is increasingly vulnerable to freeze damage due to warming climates, milder winters, and unpredictable late spring frosts. Traditional methods for assessing frost damage in grapevines which combine fieldwork and meteorological data, are expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. Remote sensing could offer a rapid, inexpensive way to detect frost damage at a regional scale. Remote sensing approaches were used to assess freeze damage in grapevines by evaluating satellite-derived vegetation indices (VIs) to understand the severity and spatial distribution of damage in several New York vineyards immediately after a frost event (May 17th-18th, 2023). PlanetScope 3m satellite images acquired before and after the freeze were used to map damage and measure changes in VIs for vineyards in the Finger Lakes region.

Juice carbon isotope discrimination is related to vine growth and fruit quality of Barossa Shiraz

Aim: Interactions between soil, climate and management that modulate vine growth, yield and grape composition are strongly defined by vine water availability and nutrient uptake during the season. Carbon isotope discrimination (δ13C) has been used as an integrative measurement of vine water availability during the season, with the potential to identify spatial variations of terroir in

Ellagitannins and flavano-ellagitannins: concentration ranges in different areas and sensory evaluation

C-Glucosidic ellagitannins, which are the main polyphenolic compounds in oak heartwood, are extracted by wine during aging in oak barrels. Although such maturing of alcoholic beverages in oak barrels is a multi-centennial practice, very little is known on the impact of these ellagitannins on the organoleptic properties of red wine. The objectives of the present investigation were (i) to isolate oak ellagitannins and to hemisynthesize some made-in-wine flavano-ellagitannins, such as acutissimin A; (ii) to analyse their concentration ranges depending on the cultivar area and (iii) to evaluate their sensory impact on the basis of their human threshold concentrations and dose/response relationships in different types of solutions.