In Austria, as in all other wine-producing countries, grape harvest estimates are currently largely based on in-situ data.
In Austria, these are visual assessments by experts (i.e. the so-called harvest experts), who provide Statistics Austria with estimates of the expected grape harvest quantities in August, September and October.
Despite the utmost care, these assessments naturally remain subjective. Due to this subjectivity - and the given variability of the yield as a function of the weather development in the weeks/months up to the harvest, which is still unknown at the time of the forecast - there are always considerable misjudgements.
Such misjudgements sometimes lead to considerable market distortions (such as in 2018). The aim of the study presented here is to present and validate a satellite-based method that provides a reliable, early, objective and cost-efficient forecast of the expected harvest volumes and complements previous voluntary estimates in the best possible way.
By using this method in the future, the Austrian wine industry could better adjust the grape and wine price to the actual production. The results could be used, for example, in the monthly mailings of Statistics Austria and the Austrian Wine Marketing Organisation.
Project manager at the W&O RTD: Franz G. Rosner
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