Vineyard ‘naturalness’ as a main component of terroir

Abstract

An esteemed expression of vineyard terroir is that, due to an excellent alignment between genotypes and environment, minimal external input should be required to operate an efficient vineyard. This concept leads to the idea of vineyard “naturalness” as a holistic approach. Naturalness extends beyond the notions of integrated or organic viticulture and is fundamentally based on the following five principles: i) maximizing the use of natural resources at no cost, such as radiation and precipitation; ii) optimal placement of scion/rootstock combinations in relation to pedo-climatic conditions; iii) achieving and maintaining a good vineyard balance; iv) ensuring rapid vegetative growth in spring that gradually diminishes, thereby minimizing the need for costly summer pruning interventions like shoot thinning, shoot trimming, and leaf removal; v) incorporating so-called soil regenerative practices. These five elements generally fall within “traditional” management; however, the greatest mistake would be to assume that vineyard naturalness is impervious to innovation. Techniques from the realm of “smart” viticulture or cultural practices used to adapt to climate change (e.g., attempts to slow down rapid ripening) are a fundamental pillar. To illustrate how vineyard naturalness might connect to innovative practices, two examples may help: i) the growing interest in techniques that quantify spatial and temporal intra-vineyard variability has revealed the potential for “variability” itself to transform from foe to ally. Once variability is properly characterized, two options become available: exploiting variability through, for instance, selective harvesting or correcting variability through variable rate technology approaches. The ultimate goal of such approaches is the same: to increase vineyard efficiency by better utilizing existing resources in the vineyard, without or even reducing the input of external resources. Another fitting example is the somewhat general progressive transition from soil tillage to soil grassing. This transition can be executed in the most traditional and cost-effective way (e.g., allowing native grass to grow) or through a well-designed soil management plan involving the use of selected grass species suited to specific environmental conditions. Once again, an example might help: the traditional practice of green manure, supported by sowing a winter cover crop that is terminated the following spring, is now paralleled by other innovative termination methods such as interrow rolling or interrow slashing with grass clippings mechanically accumulated under the row to form a permanent dead grass mulching. This is a good example of reusing vineyard residue and a sustainable alternative to tillage or herbicides for controlling weed growth under the trellis.

References

Poni S., Frioni T., Gatti M. (2025) Vineyard “Naturalness”: Principles and Challenges, Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, 2025 (1), art. no. 3247228, DOI: 10.1155/ajgw/3247228.

Tiwari H., Canavera G., Pelusi F., Poni S. (2025). Shifting from Tillage to Cover Cropping in Warm Climate Viticulture: Seeking the Optimal Balance. Agronomy, 15 (10), art. no. 2245 DOI: 10.3390/agronomy15102245