Multicriteria Climatic Classification System (Geoviticulture MCC System) based on three climate indexes, the dryness index (Di), which corresponds to an indicator of the dryness level, the heliothermal index (HI), which corresponds to Huglin's heliothermal index, and the cool night index (CI), that acts as an indicator of night temperature conditions during berry maturation, was able to describe the climatic potential for vineyards around the world. in this study we characterized the viticulture climate on twelve growth-production periods during a year with four months duration each, in the North region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, represented by Campos dos Goytacazes municipality (21º 45'S, 41º 19'W, 13 m). The system indicated that the region has potential for grape production during the year through markedly differences in DI, HI and CI indexes. The 4-months periods of January/April, February/May, March/June, April/July, May/August, June/September, July/October and August/November were considered the most suitable for grape production, as the indexes show: IS+1 indicating moderate drought class, IH-2 to IH-1, for cold to temperate classes, except for January/April, with IH+1, for temperate warm class, and IF-2 to IF-1 from warm to temperate nights classes. it can be seen that these periods shows climatic potential, and as allowing adequate plant growth, are satisfactory also for diminishing needs of sprayings and coinciding with low product offer and higher prices, what turns the region with suitability for more than one cycle per year. in this study, the system allowed the distinction of periods of grape-growing throughout a year, acting as appropriate tool for viticulture zoning.
grapevine; Vitis; climate; mCC system; indexes
