The winemaking sector in Portugal is of significant socio-economic importance, significantly contributing to national exports and supporting many wine-related activities, including oenotourism. The viticultural regions of Portugal offer a diverse range of edaphoclimatic conditions with notable regional differences, which contribute to the uniqueness of their wines. Climate change may have a significant impact on Portuguese viticulture because of the strong influence of climate and weather factors on grapevines.
Methods and findings: Climate projections for the next few decades in Portugal show an overall warming and drying trend in the grapevine growing season, which could lead to changes in phenology, growth, development, yields, and, eventually, wine characteristics and typicity. Furthermore, the current viticultural suitability of each region is expected to change significantly, implying a reshaping of the optimal conditions for viticulture across the country. The sector must implement cost-effective, appropriate, and timely adaptation measures in order to maintain high-quality levels and affordable yield regularity.
Viticulture in Portugal: A review of recent trends and climate change projections
Conclusion: The most recent scientific studies on the potential impacts of climate change on Portuguese viticulture are presented here.
The study’s significance and impact are discussed, as are potential adaptation measures against these threats, with stakeholders and decision-makers anticipating their incorporation into decision support systems.
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Viticulture experts weigh in on increasing grape production and efficiency.
A look at a remotely piloted helicopter to apply pesticides, flooding as a method of recharging aquifers, and machine pruning to keep costs down were among the topics presented at an information-packed programme on grape research in Fresno, Calif.
Not to mention the discussion of vine trunk diseases, the value of rootstocks in nematode control, vine mealybug control, and vineyard management techniques.
Aerial vehicles that can be controlled remotely
According to Ken Giles, professor and vice-chair of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis, using remotely piloted aircraft to apply pesticides is not a pipe dream.
Giles has been flying the aircraft and monitoring pesticide use in trials on grapes in Napa, nuts in Lost Hills, nut and field crops in the Sacramento Valley, and rice in Butte County.
He believes that using the craft improves productivity and can be one of the solutions to a shrinking labour pool, while also serving as a tool in an arsenal that includes conventional crop dusting and ground applications.
According to Giles, the use of unmanned aircraft in visual, line-of-sight applications is not without challenges, such as weather that can cause the vehicles to be grounded. He added that the aircraft’s regulatory process “remains unresolved.”
Among the agencies that regulate aircraft use are the Federal Aviation Administration, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of unfollow Pesticide Regulation.
There are still some kinks to work out, he says, such as a state regulation requiring the aircraft to be operated by someone with a crop duster’s licence and the need for language on pesticide labels addressing the use of the aircraft for material application.
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The Natural Wine Debate: Moral Purity or Moral Preening?
If you are one of the billions of people on the planet who avoid the winepress, you may have never heard of “natural wines.” Yet they are a source of great contention in the wine world, dividing brothers and tearing at the delicate fabric of overwrought sensibilities. It’s not quite civil war, but it’s serious enough to inspire a slew of creative insults.
To take one example, a Newsweek article titled “Why Natural Wine Tastes Worse Than Putrid Cider” prompted natural wine supporters to launch diatribes against smug, snobbish, closed-minded apologists for “Franken wines.” That’s the gist of the argument.
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What exactly is the topic of this debate?
Natural wines are those made without cultured yeast, with little (or no) use of the preservative sulphur dioxide, no modern winemaking technology such as reverse osmosis or micro-oxygenation, no additives such as mega purple, enzymes, or additional acid, no filtration, and using only grapes grown organically and/or sustainably. Natural wine producers frequently advertise their desire to make wine the way it was made 120 years ago.
So, what’s the problem with modern winemaking technology? To begin with, environmental issues such as soil depletion and potentially harmful chemicals, but natural wine enthusiasts also claim that modern industrial winemaking destroys flavour, produces generic wines lacking freshness and complexity, and no longer reflects the unique characteristics of the grapes’ origins.
