Geotagging
Terroir
Why Agriculture Canada research scientists
are deploying GIS to map out the specific site
conditions of vineyards in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley –
and how the province’s wine industry is the better
for it
By Mark Halsall
W e’ve all heard about how it’s
quality, not quantity, that
counts. If you think about it,
there’s no place where this catchphrase
is perhaps more applicable than in the
world of making wine. Only the best wines
command the best prices, which can run
in excess of $100,000 for the most prized
vintages, and that all starts with the quality
of the wine grape.
There are a number of factors that
influence grape quality, like the skill of the
vigneron who tends the vines. However,
as Pat Bowen, an Agriculture and Agri-
Food Canada research scientist who’s spent
20 years mapping the characteristics that
define terroirs in one of Canada’s premier
wine-making regions will tell, nothing is as
important than the place where the grapes
are grown.
“The quality of wine grapes is highly
dependent on where you grow them,” said
Bowen, who is part of a research team
based in British Columbia’s Okanagan
Valley that is working to help the wine
industry there deliver a better product.
“It’s mostly the climate and then
secondarily the soil, but there are many
things about the site that play a role, like
COV E R F E AT U R E
the slope aspect which determines how
much solar radiation is received, wind, air,
drainage, cloudiness, all of that,” she said.
Bowen says it’s the combination
of these physical characteristics that
determine terroir, which in viticulture
circles is highly valued as a reflection of
the site where the grapes for each wine
were grown. In geographic terms, terroirs
are delineated by what are known
as appellations.
“Appellations are related to the
importance of the site conditions in
determining the quality of the grapes
you produce and the suitability of grape
varieties or cultivars,” said Bowen.
Okanagan Valley and Similkameen
Valley are B.C.’s best-known appellations,
but there are several other appellations in
the province, including Vancouver Island
and Fraser Valley in B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
Bowen says the viticulture practised
in the Fraser Valley and on Vancouver
Island is heavily influenced by the
maritime climate which produces long,
cool growing seasons.
“They’re heat shy there, so they choose
varieties that ripen well in the cooler
coastal areas. They don’t have winter injury
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