Terraces and “vinha ao alto” [vines in vertical rows]

The ‘patamares’ (ledges) and ‘vinha ao alto’ (vertical rows of vines) are among the new landscaping techniques, having become widespread in the 1980s. In the first case, the vine is planted on narrow, horizontal ledges, following the curves of the terrain, bearing usually one to three rows of vines. The result is an undulating design, similar to the terraces before the phylloxera outbreak. In the second case, the vines are planted in vertical rows rising up the steeper hillsides, a system that has profoundly altered the landscape, which had until then been only horizontal (FAUVRELLE, 2014: 47-48).