Classifying vineyards from satellite images: a case study on Burgundy’s Côte d’Or

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Aim</strong>: To use Remote Sensing imagery and techniques to differentiate categories of Burgundian vineyards.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods and results</strong>: A sample of 201 vine plots or “climats” from the Côte d’Or region in Burgundy was selected, consisting of three vineyard categories (28 Grand Cru, 74 Premier Cru, and 99 Communale) and two grape varieties (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). A mask formed by the polygons of these vine plots was made and projected on four satellite images acquired by the ASTER sensor, covering the Côte d’Or region in years 2002, 2003 (winter image), 2004 and 2006. Mean reflectances were extracted from pixels within each polygon for each of the nine spectral bands (visible and infrared) covered by ASTER. The database had a total of 797 reflectance spectra assembled over the four images. Statistical discriminant analysis of percentage classification accuracy was made separately for Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, and for each year. Results showed that for individual years and Côtes, classification accuracy for vineyard category was as high as 73.7% (Beaune 2002) and as low as 66.7% (Beaune 2003). There were no significant differences in accuracy between spring, summer and winter images. Classification accuracy for grape variety in Côte de Beaune over the four study years was between 73.5% for Pinot Noir climats in 2004 and 91.9% for Chardonnay climats in 2006, including the winter image. Concerning the vegetation index NDVI, there were no significant differences between vineyard categories.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusions</strong>: Satellite data is shown to be functional to reveal vineyard quality. Spectral differences between categories of Burgundian vineyards are at least partially due to terroir characteristics, which are transmitted to vine and vine canopy.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Significance and impact of the study</strong>: This work indicates that Remote Sensing techniques can be used as an auxiliary tool for the monitoring of vineyard quality in established viticultural regions and for the study of quality potential in new regions.</p>