A cellular automaton framework for within-field vineyard variance and grape production simulation

Winegrowers for generations know it all too well that grapes harvested from different areas within a vineyard will produce wines of different flavours, mainly due to within-field variance in vine vigour caused by environmental variability from various factors, such as soil properties, microclimate conditions, and rootstock. Recent research attempts on the use of state-of-the-art technologies to model/ simulate within-field variance at a vineyard scale are outlined. Consequently, the paper illustrates a cellular automaton (CA) framework being developed for simulating the within-field variance in grapevine plant vigour, phenological events and vineyard production using random or real thematic mappings of likely key factors that contribute to the observed variance. The CA approach provides an alternative software tool to conventional crop estimation methods that are dependent upon expensive yield sampling methods.