Viticulture - Growing Vines

Growing Vines

See also: Climate categorizations in viticulture

The vast majority of the world's wine producing regions are found between the temperate latitudes of 30° and 50° in each hemisphere. Within these bands, the annual mean temperatures are between 10 and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F). The presence of large bodies of water and mountain ranges can have positive effects on the climate and vines. Nearby lakes and rivers can serve as protection for drastic temperature drops at night by releasing the heat that the water has stored during the day to warm the vines.

The vine needs approximately 1300-1500 hours of sunshine during the growing season and around 690 millimetres (27 in) of rainfall throughout the year in order to produce grapes suitable for winemaking. In ideal circumstances, the vine will receive most of the rainfall during the winter and spring months: rain at harvesttime can create many hazards, such as fungal diseases and berry splitting. The optimum weather during the growing season is a long, warm summer that allows the grapes the opportunity to ripen fully and to develop a balance between the levels of acids and sugars in the grape.

Topography, too, is important. Hillsides and slopes are preferred over flatter terrain: vines growing on a slope receive a greater strength of the sun rays with sunshine falling on an angle perpendicular to the hillside; in flatter terrain, the strength of the sunlight is diluted as it is spread out across a wider surface area. Additionally, a slope affords better drainage, obviating the possibility that the vine might sit in overly moist soil. In cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, south-facing slopes receive more hours of sunlight and are preferred; in warmer climes, north-facing slopes are preferred (in the southern hemisphere, these orientations are reversed).