A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture.

A vineyard is often characterised by its terroir, a French term loosely translating as "a sense of place" that refers to the specific geographical and geological characteristics of grapevine plantations, which may be imparted in the wine. The precise conditions which a vineyard must maintain are often tightly-regulated and in recent years have become the subject of progressive and often radical change.

History

In medieval Europe the Christian Church was a staunch supporter of wine, which was necessary for the celebration of the Catholic Mass. During the lengthy instability of the Middle Ages, the Christian monasteries maintained and developed viticultural practices, having the resources, security, stability and interest in improving the quality of their vines. They owned and tended the best vineyards in Europe and vinum theologium was considered superior to all others.

The oldest productive vineyard in the world is claimed to be located in Maribor, Slovenia, based largely on the celebrated Stara trta, a 400-year-old grapevine which grows there and was recognized as the oldest living example by the Guinness Book of Records in 2004.Oldest vineyard, by Inventory of Slovenian Heritage, Ljubljana, 1988

Modern practices

main: Viticulture

The implementation of mechanical harvesting is often stimulated by changes in labor laws, labor shortages, and bureaucratic complications. It can be expensive to hire labor for short periods of time, which does not square well with the need to reduce production costs and harvest quickly, often at night. However, very small vineyards, incompatible widths between rows of grape vines and steep terrain hinder the employment of machine harvesting even more than the resistance of traditional views which reject such harvesting.Fact: date=August 2007

Current trends

There are also changes in the kinds of grapes grown. For example, in Chile, large areas of low-quality grapes have been replaced with such grapes as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Grape changes are often in response to changing consumer demand but sometimes result from vine pull schemes designed to promote vineyard change. Alternatively, the development of "T" budding now permits the grafting of a different grape variety onto existing rootstock in the vineyard, making it possible to switch varieties within a two year period.Fact: date=July 2007