canopy management, a portfolio of vineyard management techniques used to improve vineyard yield and wine quality, and to control vine diseases, especially where vines are of high vigour. Canopy management techniques aim to produce a desirable canopy microclimate essentially by improving the exposure of leaves and fruit to the sun. The phrase became popular in many parts of the New World in the 1980s and early 1990s as part of a growing awareness of the way in which canopy microclimate affects vineyards. This awareness was not restricted to the New World. Considerable experimental work was also conducted in Europe, and the effects of canopy microclimate are now recognized as partly responsible for the ability of distinguished vineyards to produce great wines (see terroir and viticulture).
