Modeling viticultural landscapes: a GIS analysis of the viticultural potential in the Rogue Valley of Oregon

In the current scenario of climatic variability, even though the vine (Vitis vinifera) is a species generally considered very fertile, the process of bud differentiation is particularly influenced by the weather trend not only of the current year but also of the previous one.

The table grape industry in Europe is undergoing significant changes. For instance, in Italy, the national register of vine varieties was established in 1969, and since then, many varieties of table grapes have been registered. In the first thirty years, from 1969 to 1999, 62 seeded and 24 seedless varieties were registered. In the subsequent period, from 2000 to the present day, 23 seeded varieties and 99 seedless varieties were registered.

Aim: The aim of this work is educating people about soil variability, vine rootzone depth and readily available water holding capacity. The concept of terroir is readily discussed in the wine industry but many people involved are unable to describe a soil profile and interpret its limitations that impact on vine growth, fruit quality and wine produced. This paper discusses soil physical characteristics important to vine root growth and readily available water holding capacity (RAW).

The notion of terroir covers multiple components, from geology, pedology, geomorphology and climatology (Doledec, 1995), to aspects that are less well identified but which also intervene in the “typicality” of wines. This justifies the “zoning” approach (Moncomble and Panigaï, 1990) to define homogeneous areas, under the same agro-viticultural management and also identified at the product level (Morlat and Asselin, 1992).

The Agenda 2030 of the EU sets out the main guidelines for transitioning towards a resilient, green and safe economy. To this regard, the wine sector is experiencing an ecological transition in different ways such as increasing the production of ecological crops, or promoting the production of wines under more environmental-friendly and healthier (i.e., lower levels of SO2) products. These alternatives to conventional production are a smaller proportion of wines, in constant growth and demand, and follow alternative and minority practices, which range from sustainable to deeply philosophical thoughts. Among these methods there are organic, biodynamic and, more recently, natural wines.