Correlation between grape and wine quality, landscape diversity, on-field biodiversity, in DOC Gioia del Colle, Italy

Analysis of aerial photos by using GIS tools and on-field surveys of flora are used to characterize territories from an agro-ecologica I point of view and to assess the level of diversity of given agro-ecosystems. More and more correlations between landscape characteristics, sustainability and quality of agriculture production were speculated. In last three years a study was carri ed out in the area of DOC "Gioia del Colle" in Apulia, South Italy, in order to characterize and investigate different vineyards and sites and find out possible interactions and correlations between the landscape diversity, the biodiversity of fields and the quality of grapes and wines. In order to investigate such aspects and achieve a better knowledge of such correlations, 13 vineyards were continuously monitored for qualitative aspects related to grapevine phenology, growing and cultivation as well as for investigating quality of flora and biodiversity of spontaneous plants. A landscape analysis was carried out identifying a buffer area of a radium of 5 km around each of the vineyards and by carrying on the calculation of a set of indicators able to quantify landscape structure, composition and level of connection on the basis of the different shape, areas and cover of the patches. Statistical correlations between values of the landscape indicators, biodiversity of spontaneous plants of the different representative vineyards and the specific characteristics of the grapes were analyzed. A preliminary better knowledge of the interactions between such elements of the landscape, the sustainability of grapevine cultivation and the quality of the grapes was achieved.