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. 

Download the PDF

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…

Vers des systèmes viticoles économes en pesticide. Étude du réseau DEPHY-Vigne

Dans le cadre de TerclimPro 2025, Esther Fouillet a présenté un article IVES Technical Reviews. Retrouvez la présentation ci-dessous ainsi que l’article associé : https://ives-technicalreviews.eu/article/view/8318
Read More

Analyse et modélisation des transferts thermiques dans un sol de vignoble. Effets des techniques culturales

Natural factors such as the environment in which the vine is grown play an important role in the quality of the wine. If you want to produce a good wine, it is indeed essential to produce quality grapes. To do this, we must enhance and optimize the terroir effect which, for the moment, plays a role that is not very well known. It is therefore essential, for example, to have scientifically established and well quantifiable relationships in order to have the system of areas of controlled origin accepted. R. Morlat (1989) and G. Seguin (1970) have already carried out studies on the role of certain soil factors on grape quality. In particular, they showed the importance of soil temperature and water content.

Read More

Monitoring of microbial biomass to characterise vineyard soils

Le sol est un facteur important permettant la croissance de la vigne. Les propriétés physiques et chimiques, mais aussi microbiologiques ont une influence sur beaucoup des fonctions du sol comme la structure, le drainage, la fertilité, déterminant la vigueur des plantes et le potentiel œnologique des raisins.

Read More

Différenciation mésoclimatique des terroirs alsaciens et relation avec les paramètres du milieu naturel

The influence of climatic conditions on the development of the vine and on the quality of the wines no longer needs to be demonstrated at the scale of the vineyard, by the regional climatic characteristics, determining on this scale the viticultural potentialities (Huglin, 1978; Branas, 1946; Riou et al ., 1994); but also on a local scale, at the level of the basic terroir unit (Morlat, 1989), by the landscape differentiation of the natural environment inducing climatic variability within the same vineyard, and partly explaining differences in functioning of the vine, in connection with the processes of maturation and the quality of the wine (Becker, 1977 and 1984; Morlat, 1989 and Lebon, 1993a). According to these authors, the climatic diversity in a wine region constitutes in addition to the edaphic component, an important component of characterization of the Basic Terroir Units (UTB).

Read More

Olfactometry approach to assess odorant compounds of grape spirits used for Port wine production-first results

The production of Port Wine requires the addition of grape spirit to stop the fermentation, ensuring the desired sweetness

Read More