Sustainable Viticulture in the Valdepeñas Protected Designation of Origin: From Soil Quality to Management in Vitis vinifera

Francisco Jesús García-Navarro (), Raimundo Jiménez-Ballesta, Jesús Antonio López Perales, Caridad Perez, Jose Angel Amorós and Sandra Bravo
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Francisco Jesús García-Navarro: High Technical School Agricultural Engineers of Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Raimundo Jiménez-Ballesta: Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Autónoma University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Jesús Antonio López Perales: High Technical School Agricultural Engineers of Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Caridad Perez: High Technical School Agricultural Engineers of Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Jose Angel Amorós: High Technical School Agricultural Engineers of Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Sandra Bravo: High Technical School Agricultural Engineers of Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Historically, the productivity–quality dualism has been fundamentally oriented toward productivity in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), and more specifically, in the Valdepeñas Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Today this trend is balanced and involves another factor: the environment. From this perspective, soil quality conservation and enhancement is one of the major sustainable viticulture goals today. This study explores soil characteristics and identifies the diversity in soils in the study area for vineyard production in the terroir context, synthesizing old and new trends in applying vineyard cultivation techniques in relation to their sustainability and identifying knowledge gaps in the management of novel practices to improve soil productivity and grape quality. The effects of integrated, organic, and traditional biodynamic management are discussed. The main conclusion is that a careful retrospective analysis of the grape-growing techniques that have dominated in the past century (soil cultivation, fertilization, etc.) is not unfavorable from a sustainability point of view. The study outlines and emphasizes that, despite the suitability of soils, it is necessary to evolve with new methodologies, but without forgetting ancestral techniques.

Keywords: conservation; sustainable vineyards; soil quality vineyard; Vitis vinifera L.; cover cropping; viticulture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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