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In viticulture, the climates of wine regions are categorised based on the overall characteristics of the area's climate during the growing season. While variations in macroclimate are acknowledged, the climates of most wine regions are categorised (somewhat loosely based on the Köppen climate classification) as being part of a Mediterranean (for example Tuscany〔S. Siddons ''"(How the Tuscany Wine Region Works )"'' TLC Cooking, Accessed: Jan 18th, 2010〕), maritime (ex: Bordeaux〔M. Ewing-Mulligan ''"(France's Bordeaux Wine Region )"'' Dummies.com Reference page. Accessed: Jan 18th, 2010〕) or continental climate (ex: Columbia Valley〔A. Mumma ''"(The Washington wine difference: it's in the vineyard )"'' Wines & Vines, November 2005〕). The majority of the world's premium wine production takes place in one of these three climate categories in locations between the 30th parallel and 50th parallel in both the northern and southern hemisphere.〔T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 14-15 Dorling Kindersley 2005 ISBN 0-7566-1324-8〕 While viticulture does exist in some tropical climates, most notably Brazil, the amount of quality wine production in those areas is so small that the climate effect has not been as extensively studied as other categories.〔J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 179-195, 388, 428-434, 716-714 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0-19-860990-6〕 ==Influence of climate on viticulture== Beyond establishing whether or not viticulture can even be sustained in an area, the climatic influences of a particular area goes a long way in influencing the type of grape varieties grown in a region and the type of viticultural practices that will be used. The presence of adequate sun, heat and water are all vital to the healthy growth and development of grapevines during the growing season. Additionally, continuing research has shed more light on the influence of dormancy that occurs after harvest when the grapevine essentially shuts down and reserves its energy for the beginning of the next year's growing cycle. In general, grapevines thrive in temperate climates which grant the vines long, warm periods during the crucial flowering, fruit set and ripening periods.〔H. Johnson & J. Robinson ''The World Atlas of Wine'' pg 20-21 Mitchell Beazley Publishing 2005 ISBN 1-84000-332-4〕 The physiological processes of a lot of grapevines begin when temperatures reach around . Below this temperature, the vines are usually in a period of dormancy. Drastically below this temperature, such as the freezing point of the vines can be damaged by frost. When the average daily temperature is between the vine will begin flowering. When temperatures rise up to many of the vine's physiological processes are in full stride as grape clusters begin to ripen on the vine. One of the characteristics that differentiates the various climate categories from one another is the occurrence and length of time that these optimal temperatures appear during the growing season.〔K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 12-21 Workman Publishing 2001 ISBN 1-56305-434-5〕 In addition to temperature, the amount of rainfall (and the need for supplemental irrigation) is another defining characteristics. On average, a grapevine needs around of water for sustenance during the growing season, not all of which may be provided by natural rain fall. In Mediterranean and many continental climates, the climate during the growing season may be quite dry and require additional irrigation. In contrast, maritime climates often suffer the opposite extreme of having too much rainfall during the growing season which poses its own viticultural hazards.〔 Other climate factors such as wind, humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunlight as well as diurnal temperature variations which can define different climate categories, can also have pronounced influences on the viticulture of an area.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Climate categories in viticulture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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