Refine
Document Type
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Language
- English (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (1)
Institute
Year of publication
- 2022 (1)
Historically and under cooler climate conditions, steep slope vineyards yielded best quality wines and highest reputation, due to their distinctive light microclimate, especially pronounced at the end of the ripening period. Today, German steep slope viticulture is facing major challenges. The cultivation of steep vineyard sites is costly. Compared to fully-mechanized vineyards, steep slope vineyards are labour-intensive and strenuous to manage, they produce less yield and are at higher risk of the adverse effects of a changing climate.
The modern vineyard terracing may be a viable alternative to the current cultivation method of downslope planted grapevines. The terrace platforms lead along the contour line of the hill and allow a higher degree of vineyard mechanization. The flat terrace platforms reduce surface runoff and allow for greater infiltration of precipitation, thus reducing or preventing runoff of the fertile vineyard soil and enhance the retention of precipitation in the soil.
In the present work, the effects of the transformation of vineyards planted downslope to modern vineyard terraces on microclimatic parameters, soil water dynamics and, finally, on the vegetative and generative performance of the grapevine were investigated. The experimental sites, comprising a vineyard planted downslope and a modern terrace, were selected with regard to their spatial proximity to one another and the comparability of the planting material with each other and monitored over a period of two to four years.
The change in the radiation distribution and the heat balance became apparent due to the inherent row orientation change by vineyard terracing, leading to an alteration of distinctive fruit quality parameters. The concentrations of polyphenols and amino acids in the berries were highly related to the amount of received solar radiation. Vineyard terraces were able to mitigate weather extremes. However, younger vines planted at the outer end of the terrace platform showed high drought stress responses across all experimental years. However, this lessened as the vine age progressed.
The modern terracing of steep slope vineyards proved to be an appropriate tool for high-quality grape production. Additionally, the potential for promoting biodiversity through a sustainable management of the terrace embankments complements the overall positive findings of the present work. In the near future, the challenge to increase the competitiveness of young vines grown at steep slope vineyards to accompanying plants needs to be solved by means of viticultural, technical or breeding measures.