Water Dynamics for North Carolina V. Vinifera.

As North Carolina wine grape (V. vinifera) production intensifies, the importance of water management must be addressed.  Grape yield and composition, and consequently wine quality, are profoundly influenced by the water regime under which the grapes were produced.  Despite the importance of water management, little research pertinent to this topic has been carried out in North Carolina’s primary wine grape region, the Yadkin Valley Appellation.  This region has unique soils and climate, and may differ considerably from other established wine regions where water management research has been completed.  To gain a better understanding of water dynamics in this unique system, two vineyards in this region were instrumented to continuously measure standard weather parameters and soil matric potential.  Profile volumetric soil water content and midday stem water potential were measured on a monthly basis during the growing season.  The data from year one suggest that evapotranspirative demand, computed from on-site weather parameters using FAO-Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration protocol, lags behind rainfall amounts.  Soil matric potential and stem water potential measurements suggest that vines have an adequate water supply during the growing season.  Preliminary results from the first two years of the project will be presented.  Initial results from eddy covariance measurements at a neighboring vineyard will also be discussed.