1. Wine Grape Suitability Test
By Nick Becker

2. A small landowner at 325 NW Stringtown Road,
Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon has
approximately 17 acres and she has decided to
designated it to agriculture rather than developing on
it. She wants to know what, if anything, will grow best
and possibly return a yield on her investment. She
has tried to lease the property in the past; however,
no one was interested because the slope was,
purportedly, too steep to excavate.

4. Build a Model & Repeat
Model defines area on property best
suited for growing wine grapes, based on
research.
Model can be classified/reclassified for
additional crop types; test can be
repeated.
Approach

5. Forage crop (hay, clover) adding lime/nitrogen to soil
cost prohibitive?

6. Methods

7. Materials
& Source Data
Metro 10M LiDAR DEM
USDA soils data
Classification based on outside
research
Property boundary

8. Identify property
Tax lot boundary for 325 NW Stringtown
Rd., Forest Grove, OR
~17 US Acres
Land Value $181,500
Building Value $70,100
Washington County Tax Lots
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/05/the_dirt_on_willamette_valley.html

9. Pinot Noir grapes prefer...
to be South facing
planted on Moderate slopes
Provided by Data
Digital Elevation Model
Slope
Moderate slope[+0]
Low, high slope [+1}
Solar Radiation
90-270 degrees (SE, S, SW [+0] )
Metro 10M DEM LiDAR Layer
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/05/the_dirt_on_willamette_valley.html

10. Pinot Noir prefers...
Silt loams that are moderately drained.
Provided by Data
● Soil Type (1919, 1982, current)
○ Laurelwood silt loam [+0]
○ Helvetia silt loam [+1]
○ Cornelius and Kinton silt loam [+2]
● Drainage
○ Poorly drained [+1]
○ Moderately drained [+0]
○ Well drained [+1]
USDA Soils Layer
“Brown and fertile Laurelwood is
the region's key loess-type soil.”
-- Oregonlive
http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/05/the_dirt_on_willamette_valley.html

11. Certified Crop Advisor
cornell.edu
Cluster Sun Exposure and Quercetin
in Pinot Noir Grapes
ajevoline.com
Sun Exposure on Vineyards
Effect of Grape Bunch Sunlight
Exposure and UV Radiation...
sciencedirect.com
Wine Soils II: Cornelius Gets
Short Shrift
enobytes.com
Classification Sources

12. Assign lowest value to best
conditions
Soil type + Slope + Drainage + Solar
radiation
Raster Calculator
Total

13. Model
Model

14. Findings

15. Slope Map

16. Solar Radiation
Map

17. Soils Map

18. Final Suitability
Map w/o focal
stats

19. Final Suitability
Map w/ focal stats

20. Final Suitability
Map w/ rows
- “Row length should be shorter
than 1000 foot long. A 300-600
foot long row are common. “
- 15 ~400’ rows
- ~26,000 sq ft
- .6 acre for vines
- 1.2 - 6 tons of grapes (@2-10
tons per acre)
- 72- 360 cases of wine
http://www.winepros.org/wine101/viniculture.htm
http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Viticulture

21. Considerations
After Completing Lab 6 ‘Suitability Test’
Weighted Overlay: Soils, solar, slope; Could not assign a percentage of
influence to each raster, based on how much importance (or weight) each
should have in the final suitability map. Is slope, soil, solar radiation of equal
importance? 33%
Con/Majority Filter: Best area to place rows
Raster to Poly

22. Conclusion

23. The property at 325 NW Stringtown Rd, Forest Grove,
Washington County, Oregon was determined to be
highly suitable for growing wine grapes as
determined by a classification of DEM based slope,
aspect and solar radiation data as well as USDA soils
data. A total of .60 acres are available for optimal
growth. This test may be repeated with some
adjustments to determine suitability for other local
crop types. According to a source, the property can
be excavated with a degree of success.

24. Thank you.
Susan Kane-Phillips
Gary Phillips
Rebecca Boyd
Chad Long
Bryan Kilburn
Greg Becker