The majority of soils used for wine and table grape production in South Africa are notoriously shallow, i.e. they are restricting root penetration.
The measurement of carbon isotopic discrimination in grape sugars 13 at harvest (δ C) is an integrated assessment of water status during ripening.
Many winegrape regions have hillside vineyards, where vine water use is affected by vine age, density and health, canopy size, row orientation, irrigation practices
When considering the application of a systemic approach to assess the intrinsic complexity of agricultural production, the following question immediately arises