New Techniques in Developing a Vineyard
The world considers wine as one of the most popular and important beverages ever invented. It is used in ceremonies, rituals, events and everyday fun sessions. Most wines are made by fermenting juice from grapes. To have a large yield of the fruit, grapes are grown in vineyards. A vineyard is a plantation of grape bearing vines. Usually, vineyards are developed for winemaking. However, they are also used for the production of raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. A vineyard is usually characterized by its terroir. A terroir refers to the geographical characteristics and natural factors of grapevine plantations. These factors include soil, underlying rock, altitude of the terrain, elevation of the terrain, solar orientation and microclimate conditions. The conditions of a vineyard’s terroir must be maintained. In fact, wine producing countries often impose tightly regulated laws on vineyards.
Winemakers, farmers, scientists and even universities have been constantly researching how to improve vineyards. There is even an organization, the International Grape Genome Program, dedicated to the development of vineyards. The organization continues to find methods to genetically improve grape quality, to increase harvests and to develop immunity against pets through natural resistance. New techniques of improving vineyards resulted in the progress of wine industries in New World countries like Canada. Furthermore, there is also an increasing degree of interest in cultivating organic, ecologically sensitive and sustainable vineyards. In viticulture, or the study and practice of vineyard production, biodynamics is increasingly practiced. Drip irrigation techniques that have been practiced presently provide water farther inland. This makes planting vineyards feasible in areas that were previously not fit for plants. Harvests increased and became more consistent.
There are other modern practices in viticulture. For example, there is a technique involving the spraying of water on vines to safeguard them from freezing temperatures during the cold season. There are also new grafting techniques so that vines can be transplanted from one region to another. Other developments include soil slotting, more efficient trellising, canopy management techniques and mechanical harvesting. Because of new viticulture technology and practices, vineyard plantations have increased in the New World. In fact, between 1990 and 2003, US vineyards increased to almost a million acres from 292,000 acres. In Australia, there are now 356,000 acres of vineyards from 146,000. Chilean vineyards increased from 161,500 to 415,000 acres.
Tags: Wine Clubs, Wine Industries, Wine Producers