Topographic modeling with GIS at Serra Gaúcha, Brazil: elements to study viticultural terroir

Brazil is historically known at the international wine market as an importer, eventhough in the last decades there was an increase in quantity and quality of the internal production. Nowadays, about 40% of fine wines comsuption of the country are national ones. The main production region is called Serra Gaúcha, where the natural conditions are heterogeneous and viticulture is develloped in small properties, mainly done by the owners family. With the strong competition in internal and external market, there is a need to search distinct products in characteristic and typicality. In this context, the concept of terroir is important to drive an to match the grape variety and the cultural practices to the natural potential of each place. This work aim s to study the topographical components of the terroir at Serra Gaúcha using GIS. The study was based on a digital terrain model derived from 20 topographical map sheets in scale 1:50,000. The topographical variables analized were elevation, slope and aspect. Each variable was scores according to its suitability and integrated later on to generate topographical suitability map. The results show that 66% of the area has medium and 9% has high topographical suitability for grapes growth.