#Vintage wine maps software#

Located in Redding, California, VESTRA is a collaborator on the VINTAGE project along with the Robert Mondavi Winery and the nonprofit Bay Area Shared Information Consortium. Other prototype products are under evaluation and may be available to growers in the future. The first Vineyard Block Uniformity Maps were produced for the 2002 growing season, and VESTRA anticipates adding change maps to its 2003 commercial product line. They are thus a measurement of success, since managers may use the change maps to determine the effectiveness of mitigation practices. When the Vineyard Block Uniformity Maps are created in consecutive years, a change map can be developed to quantify the increase or decrease in uniformity. Providing a warning, the maps can indicate if a block shows variation over a certain percent. The maps can serve as an executive summary, allowings managers at companies with large and widespread vineyard holdings to easily identify blocks where new or revised management practices might need to be implemented. VESTRA's new map product has already been delivered to several wineries. The result was a vineyard-level map quantifying block variability, a helpful tool for crop managers.

#Vintage wine maps software#

Working as a VINTAGE project partner, VESTRA employed the ArcView™ 8.2 and ArcGIS™ Spatial Analyst software from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., to find the percent coefficient of variation (a standard statistical measure) for each block within a 1,000-acre vineyard based on NDVI. The applied research has shown the feasibility of using such imagery, combined with selective harvest, to move wine lots from lower quality (and value) designations to highest quality reserve programs.īased on VINTAGE's applied research, VESTRA Resources, Inc., recently released a commercial product known as the Vineyard Block Uniformity Map. In the vineyard, these index values translate to higher and lower vigor, a factor that frequently relates to fruit characteristics, and ultimately, wine quality.

Higher values indicate more active growth and productivity, while lower values indicate less active vegetation and nonvegetated surfaces. NDVI, which is determined by analyzing red and infrared bands from multispectral imagery, has values ranging from -1.0 to +1.0. Using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), a relative indicator of plant canopy density, blocks were subdivided for harvest based upon late-season vigor, resulting in more uniformly mature grapes, and improved quality of resulting wine lots in many cases.

Researchers and vineyard managers analyzed imagery to divide individual vineyard blocks into zones of differing vigor. One key VINTAGE aspect involved the evaluation of satellite and airborne multispectral imagery for delineation of sub-block management zones within a vineyard. With project investigators from NASA's Ames Research Center, the California State University at Monterey Bay, and the University of Montana, several prototype products have been developed to support agricultural decisions concerning canopy management and irrigation practice. wine and commercial remote sensing industries for a project known as the Viticultural Integration of NASA Technologies for Assessment of the Grapevine Environment (VINTAGE). To further develop the use of image technology and GIS for vineyard management support, NASA's Earth Science Enterprise partnered with the U.S. GIS can also serve as a valuable archiving mechanism for future reference.

With computer software designed to overlay remotely sensed imagery with environmental and agronomic geographic data on a map, GIS helps growers recognize and explain patterns that might not have been obvious otherwise. Over the last decade, an increasing number of vineyard managers have utilized digital remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize the variability within their blocks. Since growers typically treat the entire block as a single 'minimum management unit' for cultivation and harvest, mapping and monitoring the variability within a block is a concern. Vineyards such as those located in California's Napa Valley tend to be subdivided into relatively large fields or 'blocks' that often encompass heterogeneous physical conditions. Affected by subtle differences in the physical characteristics of the vineyard such as microclimate, slope, water-holding capacity, and soil type, even a constant varietal and rootstock of grapes will produce wines with varying color, bouquet, body, and yield, depending upon their location. Winegrowers have known for centuries that grapes harvested from different areas of a vineyard will produce wines with unique flavors. Environmental factors throughout a vineyard can significantly influence the overall quality of wine.