1. Introduction

This Manual seeks to describe and assess the most evolved version of the techniques developed by Mas Martinet, with the support of the Life-Priorat project, to progress towards sustainable mountain viticulture. The Manual also provides useful knowledge to guide mountain viticulture decision-making.

The technical, environmental and financial aspects of mountain viticulture are covered in a synthetic and practical manner, although bearing in mind their complex nature. The Manual also seeks to be informative and, therefore, describes terms and concepts that may be familiar to professionals in the sector but that will help others, either producers or consumers, with less experience in viticulture understand their contents.

Mountain viticulture is characterised by the steep natural slopes of the land on which the vines are planted1. In addition to this, Mediterranean areas are characterised by a low or medium annual rainfall (between 400 and 600 mm), although with episodes of very intense rain that often reach 100 mm in only a few hours and can exceed 200 mm in one or two days. This torrential rain is extremely erosive and is able to strip tons of soil per hectare.

Traditionally, Mediterranean mountain viticulture overcame these adverse natural conditions by using very time-consuming soil retaining techniques involving small dry stone walls, which had no significant impact on the morphology of the land. Furthermore, these walls made what was then manual work easier by reducing the slope of each terrace. In other cases, the proprietor lived with the slope and the erosion, accepting low production stock due to the lack of fertile soil and irregularity of the weather. These techniques, based on plenty of cheap manpower that offset low productivity, have shaped a very characteristic landscape over the centuries with a strong personality and balance and upon which part of the identity of some districts has been built.

The old vineyards to have remained are now a heritage that must be preserved as much as possible. However, except in cases with very specific purposes, the financial feasibility of new plantations is no longer possible using traditional techniques. Growing competition and the globalisation of the wine markets, together with relatively unfavourable natural conditions for crop mechanisation has forced 1 The experiments developed within the framework of the project have been carried out on land with gradients of between 20% and 70%. The average gradient of the cultivated land in the Priorat region is 45% (24.2º). mountain vine growing regions to introduce changes in the way in which vineyards are operated and to innovative in their productive and commercial strategy:

• Apply new techniques to increase productivity, maintaining or even increasing the quality of the grape.
• Stand out in the market by producing wines that combine a good basic quality with a strong personality,intelligently using the natural and human resources available.
  

With future generations in mind, long-term survival of mountain viticulture requires strong financial feasibility, with low vulnerability to inevitable market fluctuations.

However, the prosperity and economic progress of mountain vineyards cannot be achieved at the cost of the environment. Alongside the taste for good wines, social sensitivity for environmental protection has also increased. More particularly, mountain landscapes provide natural, visual, social and economic values that must be preserved. The symbiosis between the landscape and the wine culture is leading to a new tourist sector: wine tourist, which in some regions may be as economically relevant as the viticulture and its derived winery activities themselves.

One of the main techniques for increasing mountain vineyard productivity is by forming terraces for crop mechanisation. To a greater or lesser extent, land terracing using basic, badly thought out techniques leads to the breakdown of the landscape and the increase in erosion due to concentrated of run-off. Random terracing is environmentally unsustainable and, in particularly sensitive areas, may put the continuity of the wine production activity at risk.

However, the landscape does not have to be mummified. The land must be kept alive and production work must be permitted, provided this is done harmonically and without jeopardising its most emblematic views. The abandoning of the vineyard and loss of the mosaic landscape are just as bad as the proliferation of grossly terraced vineyards that monopolise the land due to their low productivity. The landscape must also be accessible and open and it must encourage compatible contact between viticulture and society.

The Mediterranean area also has a high risk of erosion of poor and sparse soils that form a natural resource of high value. In more arid areas, erosion may be the start of desertification processes that are extremely difficult to reverse.

Therefore, a fragile environment is another of the basic conditioning factors that the new mountain viticulture must include, especially that of the Mediterranean.

The profitable and environment-friendly development of mountain viticulture is not, therefore, an obvious matter. Economic and environmental sustainability may seem irreconcilable objectives and often present themselves as such.

However, the recipe for environmental protection is no longer an impassable productive barrier but

Why continue with mountain viticulture?

Despite the adverse orographic conditions for vine growing and the high production costs this represents, it is important to ensure mountain viticulture remains environmentally and financially feasible in order to: Uphold an activity in the rural mountain environment and avoid population drift. Prosperous economic activities must be added to the feeling of belonging to an area. Preserve unique landscapes formed over centuries of balanced work by mankind. Promote the mosaic use of land as one of the most appropriate measures of preventing forest fires, especially in Mediterranean areas. The vine has been proven to be a good fire-break. Conserve the variety of autochthonous grape especially adapted to the land and the climate of each area. Use the strong character of mountain regions to produce unique, top quality wines for the global market. These historic, socio-economic and landscape-based values offer a relevant contribution towards the cultural and biological diversity of the planet and are an undeniable tourist attraction, the exploitation of which may have significant weight in the local economy. In short, it is a case of using a strong local identity as a driving force for sustainability and platform for influencing global values.

instead a socio-economic opportunity that is simple, despite its complexity: (eco)innovation. In the case of mountain viticulture, the increase in resource productivity and grape quality must offset the increase in vineyard construction and operating costs as a result of the prevention of environmental impact (negative external economic issues). As such, mountain viticulture may become a production activity with a present and a future and provide all its direct and indirect
economic added value to the districts housing it.

The final social aim is to contribute towards rural development and to secure the population in the region through the creation of stable, quality jobs for both men and women that enable them to enjoy decent standards of living.

With these clearly established goals, the mountain viticulture developed by Mas Martinet is based on the integration of two apparently independent groups of techniques that provide all their sustainability potential when applied together:

• Sustainable terracing.
• Vine vigour control.
  

These techniques have been developed without bearing in mind the vine-growing limitations established
by the regulations of the European wine production regions (irrigation, production per hectare, number
of buds, etc.). This has been the case for two reasons:

• The heterogeneity of these limitations, which often respond more to a century-old tradition than solid scientific bases, and that have may have made perfect sense in times gone by but that must now be reviewed in light of current knowledge and technological possibilities.
• The very nature of an experimental and demonstrative project that seeks to open up new ways for sustainable mountain viticulture requires very clear final objectives, despite acting with complete freedom to meet them, with no pre-established conditions that restrict creativity before it can be expressed. Innovation also consists of questioning the traditional way things are done.

More specifically, it is the wine producing regions that must be ready for the new viticulture techniques arising, taking the necessary time to assess them carefully and decided how many should be integrated into existing regulations and in which manner, in order to modify or add to them.

¹The experiments developed within the framework of the project have been carried out on land with gradients of between 20% and 70%. The average gradient of the cultivated land in the Priorat region is 45% (24.2º).