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The Iberian viticultural regions are convened according to the Denomination of Origin (DO) and present different climates, soils, topography and management practices. All these elements influence the vegetative growth of different varieties throughout the peninsula, and are tied to grape quality and wine type. In the current study, an integrated analysis of climate, soil, topography and vegetative growth was performed for the Iberian DO regions, using state-of-the-art datasets. For climatic assessment, a categorized index, accounting for phenological/thermal development, water availability and grape ripening conditions was computed. Soil textural classes were established to distinguish soil types. Elevation and aspect (orientation) were also taken into account, as the leading topographic elements. A spectral vegetation index was used to assess grapevine vegetative growth and an integrated analysis of all variables was performed. The results showed that the integrated climate-soil-topography influence on vine performance is evident. Most Iberian vineyards are grown in temperate dry climates with loamy soils, presenting low vegetative growth. Vineyards in temperate humid conditions tend to show higher vegetative growth. Conversely, in cooler/warmer climates, lower vigour vineyards prevail and other factors, such as soil type and precipitation acquire more important roles in driving vigour. Vines in prevailing loamy soils are grown over a wide climatic diversity, suggesting that precipitation is the primary factor influencing vigour. The present assessment of terroir characteristics allows direct comparison among wine regions and may have great value to viticulturists, particularly under a changing climate.

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This study was conducted during three seasons (2012-2014) in an experimental hop yard at Mabegondo, Galicia, NW Spain. The research aimed at calibrating and validating the soil water balance model SIMD-ualKc for Humulus lupulus L. cv. 'Nugget'. The model computes the soil water balance using the dual K c approach, thus partitioning crop evapotranspiration (ET c) into crop transpiration, ground cover transpiration and soil evaporation. Calibration and validation were performed using TDR soil water content measurements, which produced small root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 0.012 to 0.015 cm 3 cm −3. The initial, mid-season and end-season basal crop coefficients (K cb) that allow computing hop transpiration were respectively 0.16, 0.97 and 0.83. The single K c for the same crop growth stages, which refers to transpiration and soil evaporation together, were respectively 0.69, 1.02 and 0.85. SIMDualKc provided to estimate water use by the hop yard and the components of the soil water balance, particularly hop transpiration (T Hop), ground covered transpiration (T cover) and soil evaporation (E s). T Hop represented 92% of actual evapotranspiration (ET c act) during the mid-season, and E s averaged 69% of ET c act during the initial stage. It was observed that T cover was strongly influenced by soil and ground cover management. The impacts of water use and T Hop on hop yield quantity and quality were assessed. A linear regression between hop cone yield and T Hop has been found, with a high coefficient of determination r 2 = 0.92, while the linear regressions of T Hop with alpha and beta-acids had regression coefficients not significantly different from zero. These results denote appropriate irrigation management with absence of stresses that could affect yields or the concentration of bitter acids.

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