GIS Applications for Addressing Terroir in American Viticultural Areas of Missouri

Terroir is a concept that uses soil, geology, topography, and climate in explaining unique regional flavors in wine. Using GIS and multi-criteria analysis to solve problems involving viticulture has proved useful in areas of California, Oregon, and other North America wine regions. From Missouri's unique history many small wine regions have evolved. The Augusta and Hermann American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) and other select wine regions were used in this study to create methods for and analyze the terroir of the state. The data used to analyze the physical parameters that contribute to terroir were acquired from the Missouri Spatial Data Information System (MSDIS) and the Center for Applied Sciences and Environmental Systems (CARES). ESRI ArcMap was used to create the methods that extract the soil, geology, topography, and climate types that are used in the wine industry today and together can be used to describe the terroir of each region. Soil and geology maps created by the MoDNR, DGLS, and GSP are provided by CARES. USGS 10-meter DEMs were used to create slope, aspect, and curvature surface maps. USDA National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial photography was used to find the location of each vineyard necessary to complete the spatial analysis. Commonalities found by creating a geodatabase and statistically analyzing the attributes for each vineyard plot and multi-criteria analysis were used to create suitability maps outlining possible new vineyard locations. These locations are found by filtering the preferential soil, geology, topography, and climate parameters for each specific grape variety. Continued research will address wine and how the earth influences its taste through soil and geology in site-specific soil and wine chemistry analyses.