Natural Terroir Units (NTU) are being delimited in vine growing area DOCa Rioja, in collaboration with Uruñuela Cooperative, to characterized specific and singular Tempranillo (Vitis vinifera, L.) wines. NTU selection is based on detailed cartography (1:20.000), managed by the Soil Information System of La Rioja (SISR), and in the analysis of pedologic, climatic, lithologic, and relief features of Najerilla Valley.
The five NTU, placed on river and torrential platforms with similar lithology of original materials, have been selected with series of soils belong to the Alfisol, Inceptisol and Mollisol orders. The main purpose of this project is to measure the influence produced by soil properties of each series of soil (effective depth, water reserve, clay and carbonates percentage, potassium and magnesium) in musts and wines of this vine growing area.
Authors: E. García-Escudero, J. Mª. Martínez, E. P. Pérez, R. López and I. Martín
Servicio de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico Agroalimentario (SIDTA-CIDA)-ICVV
Ctra. Logroño-Mendavia NA-134 Km. 90. 26071 Logroño, La Rioja (Spain)
Email: sisrsuelos.cida@larioja.org
Keywords: Terroir, soil, Tempranillo, grapevine, wine