Beyond Tradition: How Data-Driven Methods are Transforming Vineyards

A Deep Dive into the Tools and Techniques of Precision Viticulture

When we think about viticulture and vineyard management, we often conjure images of passionate vignerons walking the rows of a vineyard, listening, as it were, to the vines and their needs before making the necessary amendments. This image, particularly for higher-end wines where no costs are spared in caring for the vines, holds very much true. That said, even for the most closely managed sites, vineyard management is often approached on a relatively broad scale, treating entire rows, even blocks of vines, as uniform areas. This means that, more often than not, mulching and fertilisation, irrigation, canopy management and disease control are applied relatively evenly across a vineyard, relying on both experience and generalised observations. This makes perfect sense, particularly for larger vineyards, where economic constraints make it impractical to spend too much time tailoring treatments to the individual vine. It is also an approach that has produced remarkable wines for centurie…