Climatic potential for wine grape in the ‘Circuito das Frutas’ region, São Paulo State, Brazil

Abstract

The ‘Circuito das Frutas’ is an important region for fruit production in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It is a region with great attractions associating tourism and wine production. However, there is no detailed study evaluating the climatic potential of this region for producing wine grapes. The goal of this study was to describe this potential evidencing areas (within the ‘Circuito das Frutas’) that present suitable conditions for producing fine wine. The Huglin index (HI) was calculated for different growing seasons: August to January (summer growing season) and January to June (winter growing season). The results showed that for summer growing season the largest area of the region has a warm viticultural climate (HI+2). Some areas between the counties of Morungaba and Itatiba had warm temperate viticultural climate (HI+1) and a cooler condition (HI-1) was observed for locations with higher altitude. These cooler areas, regarded as temperate by the HI, are located at the counties of Jundiaí and Atibaia. According to the HI these temperate areas show similar climatic conditions to the producing regions of Curico (Chile), Valladolid (Spain) and Lisbon (Portugal). The HI values found in some parts of Jundiaí and Atibaia, are favorable for varieties such as Riesling Italico, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. During the winter growing season an increase was observed for the area with HI+1 (warm temperate). This last feature was found mainly in the regions of Morungaba, Itatiba, Valinhos, Vinhedo, Jarinu and Atibaia. According to the HI these viticultural climatic conditions are similar to those found in the producing regions of Santiago (Chile), Lisbon (Portugal), Rioja and Tarragona (Spain) and Serra Gaúcha (Brazil). The spatial distribution of the HI values has indicated that the most favorable areas to the expansion of viticulture in the ‘Circuito das Frutas’, are the higher areas of Jundiaí and Atibaia during the summer growing season. Regarding the winter growing season, along with these two former areas, the counties of Morungaba and the Itatiba also have climatic potential to expand their cultivated area.