MANUAL OF TECHNIQUES FOR SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN VITICULTURE LIFE-PRIORAT PROJECT

The rights to this publication are the joint property of Fundació Fòrum Ambiental, Mas Martinet Assessoraments, Castillo de Perelada and Domaine de Cabasse. Explicit rights are granted to totally or partially reproduce the document, provided its source is quoted.

Fundació Fòrum Ambiental
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www.forumambiental.org
info@forumambiental.org
Diseño: J. Bruguera
© Barcelona, Mayo 2007

Prologue

This manual is the result of the PRIORAT project “Making mountain viticulture development compatibility with European Landscape Convention objectives” co-funded by the European Union LIFE programme and coordinated by Fundació Fòrum Ambiental.

The LIFE PRIORAT project arose in response to the growing sensitivity for the environmental impact of mountain viticulture. This is particularly the case in successful areas such as Priorat, which is currently experiencing a real boom in activity. This response is based on the certainty that the prosperity and economic progress of mountain viticulture cannot be achieved at the cost of the environment. In turn, the solutions proposed in this manual bear in mind the fact that mountain viticulture cannot cease to be financially feasible and, therefore, in a context of strong global competition, businesses will be forced to innovate in the way in which the vineyards are operated.

The endless creativity developed by Mas Martinet Assessoraments over its 15-plus years of experimental work in mountain viticulture has been used as a basis for this project. Thanks to Castillo de Perelada and Domaine de Cabasse, it was possible to compare the feasibility of such proposals in other environments, such as the Garbet estate in El Empordà and the Malmont estate in Côtes du Rhône, whereas the technical coordination and the huge task of disseminating the results of the project fell on Fundació Fòrum Ambiental, which took every effort to raise awareness of the challenges of mountain viticulture to reach all the players involved. The technical coordination was the responsibility of Dr. Moisés Cohen, a specialist in Climate - Plant - Soil and irrigation information management in precise agriculture, who objectively assessed the data obtained.

Furthermore, this project would not have been possible without the close cooperation of the project advisory committee formed by Professor Fernando Bianchi de Aguiar and Sara Colombera - both representing Centre de Recherches d’Études et de Valorisation pour la Viticulture de Montagne (CERVIM), Professor Arno Simonis from DLR Mosel, Joan Queralt from DARP, Xavier Mateu from Centre de la Propietat Forestal de Catalunya, Pere Sala from Observatori Català del Paisatge, Josep Maria Milla, Salustià Alvarez - Chairman of the D.O.Q. Priorat Control Board, Ignacio Orriols - Director of La Estación de Viticultura y Enología de Galicia and, most particularly, Professor Alvaro Feliu, who was responsible for producing the manual and without whose devotion this manual would not have been possible.

The techniques presented are the result of fifteen years of experimentation in the Priorat region, with the end support of the LIFE project, and open the road to sustainable mountain viticulture. The publication of this Manual merely seeks to share the experience accumulated with others dealing in viticulture or areas related to it. Professionals may reflect on the different ideas offered and apply those considered appropriate, adapting them to their needs and to the conditioning factors of the land on which they carry out their activity. This is the true purpose of the Manual.

Despite this, the research and experimentation work must continue, because current knowledge remains insufficient to obtain excellence and because sustainability is an evolving process, the final point of which cannot be precisely defined and, furthermore, changes with the technological, environmental and social-economic environment. Mas Martinet is already working on the scientific consolidation of the main criteria outlined in this Manual and on the development of new ideas.

Carles Mendieta
Director of Fundació Fòrum Ambiental