Terroir 2010 banner

Analysis of the daily minimum temperatures variability in the Casablanca Valley, Chile

Abstract

The Casablanca Valley (CV) has a complex topography and is located near the Pacific Ocean. These factors generate important climatic differences in relation to other wine producing zones of Central Chile. The air temperature is one of the most important atmospheric variables in viticulture by its influence on the vine development and the quality of the grapes and wines. In this work, the minimum temperature has been studied using a set of meteorological stations to make a comparative climatology between the CV and surrounding viticultural zones, and also with data from an agrometeorological network inside the CV, to make a local comparison applying the Principal Component Analysis. The synoptic configurations were analyzed for the higher and lower minimum temperatures. The comparison with the surrounding zones shows that the CV has differences in the annual cycle of the minimum temperatures (amplitude and extremes values). Its minimum temperature anomalies are less correlated with the more continental stations, and the differences are statistically more marked and are increasing with growing season. The analysis inside de CV shows low differences, with a 93% of the variance explained by the first principal component, but some oceanic influence exists. The analysis shows that the valley has a well differentiated regime of minimum temperatures compared with other wine-producing zones, noticeable in the warm period. Inside the CV there is a low spatial variability, with an important synoptic control, and it is possible to describe some gradient along the ocean proximity.

Download the PDF

DOI:

Publication date: December 3, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2010

Type: Article

Authors

Carlo Montes

Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA)

Raúl Bitrán S/N, La Serena, Chile

Contact the author

Keywords

Minimum temperature, temperature variability, terroir, viticultural zoning

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2010

Citation

Related articles…

The« Sigales’ method »

Le comportement de la vigne est étroitement lié aux propriétés hydriques des sols surtout dans leurs parties profondes.

Read More

Les terroirs viticoles ont une histoire

The historian starts from a scientific, rigorous and recent definition of the wine-growing region. “A viticultural terroir is made up of several homogeneous units: geological and pedological elements (texture,
grain size, thickness, mineralogical nature, chemical components), geomorphological (altitude, slope, exposure), climatological (rainfall, temperature, insolation)”. Absent from this definition, the man is fortunately reintroduced a little further. By associating viticulture and winemaking, it forms a “couple” with the terroir and this couple.

Read More

Influence of spraying of copper fungicides on physiological parameters of Vitis vinifera L. Cv. ‘Merlot’

Vine downy mildew is one of the most frequent diseases in intensive vineyards. Bordeaux mixture (B.m.), in order to control the disease has been applied onto vineyards since the end of the 19th century. The intensive use of Cu-fungicides could influence the physiology of grapevine. It is also possible that high amounts of foliar Cu sprays trigger stress responses in vine leaves.

Read More

Georgian vitis germplasm: conservation, research and usage

Grapevine Vitis vinifera L. is a leader perennial crops for the Republic of Georgia, the South Caucasus. This is a region where the first wine making practice was initiated 8.000 years ago (McGovern et al. 2017) and a spot of grape domestication. The country of Georgia holds 525 local and more than 60 breeding varieties – they are preserved in 9 field collections inside the country.The list of recommended wine cultivars contains 34 names, including 27 old autochthonous varieties and covering 94% of the country’s vineyards.

Read More

First results on the chemical composition of red wines from the pressing of marc

In the Bordeaux vineyards, press wine represents approximately 15% of the total volume of wine produced[1]. Valuing this large volume of wine is necessary from an economic point of view, but also because of their organoleptic contribution to the blend, and their contribution to the construction of wines for laying down. Therefore, this study was developed considering the lack of recent scientific knowledge on the composition of red press wines. The aim of this study is to establish an initial assessment of their chemical composition including aromatic compounds and a phenolic part.

Read More