The term 'Precision Viticulture' encompasses the use of a range of tools and technologies that allow viticulturists and winemakers to make more informed, targeted management decisions in the vineyard.

 

Precision Viticulture is an approach to winegrape production which recognises that the productivity of vineyards, as well as blocks within vineyards, can be inherently variable. Thus, vineyard management is targeted to 'zones' of similar performance (this is referred to as 'differential' management as opposed to 'uniform' management which does not recognise spatial variability). The reasons for using such technology are to:

 

• locate areas within blocks which have similar (or dissimilar) growing characteristics
• quantify how these areas (or zones) perform within a vineyard
• use the information (or data) to understand the reasons for the differences in performance
• make better management decisions with the aim of reducing production costs and increasing efficiency, profitability and/or sustainability.

Precision Viticulture Australia was established in 2006 in response to an increased uptake of precision viticulture technologies by the wine industry. A need was identified to improve the acquisition, processing and delivery of high resolution spatial data in a useable format.