Analysis and definition of potential new areas for viticulture in the Azores (Portugal)
Vineyards in the Azores have been traditionally settled on lava field terroirs but the practical limitations of mechanization and high demand on man labor imposed by the typical micro parcel structure of these vineyards contradict the sustainability of these areas for wine production, except under g...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-07-01
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| Series: | SOIL |
| Online Access: | http://www.soil-journal.net/1/515/2015/soil-1-515-2015.pdf |
| Summary: | Vineyards in the Azores have been traditionally settled on lava field
terroirs but the practical limitations of mechanization and high demand
on man labor imposed by the typical micro parcel structure of these
vineyards contradict the sustainability of these areas for wine production,
except under government policies of heavy financial support. Besides the
traditional vineyards there are significant areas in some of the islands
whose soils, climate and physiographic characteristics suggest a potential
for wine production that deserves to be the object of an assessment, with a view
to the development of new vineyard areas offering conditions for better
management and sustainability.
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The landscape zoning approach for the present study was based in a
geographic information system (GIS) analysis incorporating factors related
to climate, topography and soils. Three thermal intervals referred to
climate maturity groups were defined and combined with a single slope
interval of 0–15 % to exclude the landscape units above this limit. Over
this resulting composite grid, the soils were then selectively cartographed
through the exclusion of the soil units not fulfilling the suitability
criteria.
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The results show that the thermal interval of warmer conditions, well
represented in the traditional terroir of Pico island, has practically
no expression in the other islands. However, for the intermediate and the
cooler classes, we could map areas of 5611 and 18 115 ha respectively,
fulfilling the defined soils and slope criteria, indicating thus the
existence of some landscapes in the studied islands revealing adequate
potential for future development of viticulture, although certainly
demanding a good judgment on the better grape varieties to be adapted to
those climatic conditions. |
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| ISSN: | 2199-3971 2199-398X |