In the final thesis, we examined changes in vineyard techniques and vineyard locations on farms in the Branik Local Community (Vipava Valley) between 1820 and 2020. We chose this study area because it has a long and diverse history of viticulture. Through the analysis of archival sources (land cadastres of the 19th century), a regional professional journal, further historical and current viticulture literature, statistical and cartographic data from contemporary history and the present, as well as interviews conducted in the study area, we aimed to understand how vineyard techniques, locations, surface areas, and the functioning of vineyards changed over time. We also presented the fundamental challenges that vine growers face today. Innovations influenced by general economic and political changes, including technological advancements in viticulture, new diseases, and pests that required vine growers to adapt, led to the transformation of local agriculture. At the beginning of the study period, viticulture was just one of the branches of polycultural agriculture, with relatively remote agricultural land allocated to it. In the second half of the 20th century, local agriculture specialized in viticulture. Over the study period, we identified essential historical events and processes that influenced the development of viticulture. Based on this, we divided the viticultural history of the Branik area in the two centuries from the 1820s into four sub-periods. Today, vine growers face the economically unfavorable purchase of grapes by the Agricultural Cooperative Vipava, which was the main grape buyer and promoter of this industry from 1960 to 2000. Consequently, some smaller vine growers are abandoning parts of their vineyards or leasing them to larger winemakers with their own brand names who have in the last 20 years become the main local wine producers and maintainers of vineyard areas.
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