The vineyard landscapes. History and trends of viticulture in case studies from Slovakia

Abstract

In Slovakia, grape has been cultivated since Roman times. Natural settings limit the distribution of vineyards predominantly to its southern parts, mainly to lowlands and foothills of the Carpathians. Based on a SWOT analysis, we selected three case studies in which urbanization, restoration, and abandonment of terraced vineyards were evaluated. These transformations typically change the character of wine-growing landscapes throughout Europe. Quantitative data on vineyards at national level were adopted from the national statistical database DATACube (1996-2018). Geodata and geo-statistics were accessed from national Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Services using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS). Basic statistics for a numerical field of an area size were calculated from the following vector layers: historical vineyards (1952-1957), current vineyards identified the Basic Data Base for the GIS (ZBGIS) (2019) and vineyard plots registered at the Cadastre of Real Estate (2019). In general, the area of vineyards decreased at national level. One case study exhibited decline of vineyards due to urbanization and land abandonment but small-sized parcels remained preserved and currently appear as features of a traditional wine-growing landscape which has great agritourism potential. In the other two case studies, the area of vineyards increased; small wine-growing plots were merged into medium-sized plots and new modern terraces were built-up. However, these terraces were not properly registered at the Cadastre of Real Estate after land consolidation. Nevertheless, well-maintained terraced vineyards, although modern, prevent soil erosion.