Viñedos en terrazas en la región vitivinícola del Duero, Portugal: una perspectiva de la gestión del suelo y el agua

The Douro vineyards are a striking example of soil protection materialized in a strongly humanized landscape, where terraces cover a large part of the region. The paper aims at presenting a perspective on soil and water management improvements for Douro terraced vineyards, as a response to actual responsibilities determined by the UNESCO World Heritage statute in preserving a cultural, living and evolutional landscape. After stressing the importance of Douro terraced vineyards in the Portuguese Continental territory and the natural constraints for crop production characterizing the Douro valley, terrace types present in Douro landscapes are described, together with soil changes with terracing operations. Besides the rehabilitation of drystone structures as part of the preservation interventions on the region’s cultural heritage, critical risk areas in recently terraced hillslopes are identified as a priority for soil protection and water management interventions. These are the vineyard areas most expose to direct impact of erosive rainfalls and comprise the inter-row lanes, especially in non-terraced vineyards, the earthen bare risers in recent terraces, and the farm road and drainage networks, spatially coincident, in steep extensively planted hillslopes. Innovative soil and water management practices have to be developed and locally tested in close dialog with regional actors.