NPR - AN ONLINE MAPPING TOOL TO GUIDE VITICULTURE EXPANSION IN TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA

Abstract

 As part of the Tasmanian government’s AgriVision 2050 plan and a means to facilitate expansion of the Tasmanian wine industry, a comprehensive climate based assessment of the state was implemented to delineate new areas suitable for wine grape production. This paper details how climate variables concerning Frost Risk (FR), Growing Degree Days (GDD) Growing Season Temperature (GST) and Rainfall (Rfall) were spatially quantified at high spatial resolutions (30m grid spacing) and combined to form suitability maps for delineating areas accommodative to table wine grape and sparkling wine grape production (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir cultivars). Evaluation of the climate mapping showed the methods were highly accurate in delineating each climate variable with validation statistics consistent with previous studies. The resulting suitability maps also aligned to the existing arrangements of operating vineyards as well expert knowledge provided by industry. The maps were made publically available through the Tasmanian government online mapping portal, LISTmap https://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap allowing for spatial interaction and querying. Since April 2018, the maps have received in excess of 27,000 ‘hits’ in the six months to September. Further updates are scheduled into the future to include soil and climate change information into the assessment framework.

 Keywords: Suitability, Climate, Map, Viticulture, Wine