Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Highspatial resolution multispectral imagery was acquired at midseason 1997 by an airborne digital camera system and used to establish management zones within a 3ha commercial wine vineyard in Californias Napa Valley. Image processing included offaxis brightness correction, bandtoband alignment, ground registration and conversion to a Vegetation Index to enhance sensitivity to canopy density. The image was then stratified by Vegetation Index and colorcoded for visual discrimination. An output image was generated in TIFFWorld format for input to mapping software on the growers laptop computer. The imagery was used to delineate low, moderate, and highvigor zones within the study block. Supporting field measurements per zone then included canopy structure (woody biomass, canopy transmittance), vine physiology (leaf water potential, chlorophyll content), and fruit biochemistry. Grapes from each zone were fermented separately and the resulting wines were formally evaluated for difference and quality. The low and highvigor zones were clearly distinct from one another with respect to most measurements. Block subdivision enabled the production of a
reserve" (highest) quality wine for the first time ever from this particular block.