PLANTATION
TAKING CARE OF VINEYARDS, TAKING CARE OF WINE.
The region’s viticulture has evolved considerably in recent years, providing winegrowers with the best quality grapes, with economically viable and environmentally sustainable productions, which make it possible to obtain wines with a unique quality-price ratio. Viticulture is spread over practically all the Setúbal Peninsula municipalities: with a total area of about 9000 ha, it is in the municipality of Palmela that the largest wine-growing spot in the region can be found, followed by Montijo and Setúbal. There is also an important vineyard area in the southern region of Setúbal District: Alcácer do Sal, Grândola, Santiago do Cacém and Sines. Despite some differences at the orographic level, viticulture in the Setúbal Peninsula is essentially homogeneous in terms of its nature.
Most of the vineyards are in flat areas, with the exception of those located in the Arrábida Mountain. The most used conduction systems are: the bilateral Royat cord in ascending hedge in the vast majority of vines, and the “pot” conduction in older vines.
In some existing old vines, more than forty years old, the strains are planted with a very tight compass of 1.3m x 1.3m; the one used at the time since all the works were carried out using animal traction. These vines are not wired and the strains are conducted in a free way, known as “pot” or “bowl”.
Much driven by the growing need for the work mechanization, the installation and conversion of vineyards have been common practice in recent years. Thus, the vines installation is a growing practice, ready-made grafts and selected vegetative material which, with a high quantitative and qualitative potential of traditional and new varieties, provide the production of outstanding wines.
For the sake of a good vineyard production, irrigation is essential in this region. Due to the hot and dry summer and the low water retention of the soils, the most used type of irrigation is drip irrigation; a technique already applied in a considerable area of the region, which originates stable productions, both in quantity and quality, and good ripeness at the ideal point of harvest.
