Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Land Use Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landusepol The history of viticultural land use as a determinant of contemporary regional development in Western Poland Andrzej Greinert a, ⁎ , Jakub Kostecki a , Yuliya Vystavna b,c a University of Zielona Gora, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Geoengineering and Reclamation, 15 Prof. Z. Szafrana St., 65-516, Zielona Gora, Poland b Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic c Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Soil Biology, Na Sádkách 7, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Vineyards Wine Viticulture Tourism Central and Eastern Europe ABSTRACT Many regions in Europe have unique and characteristic landscapes, partly resulting from historical and/or current economic activities that have become a contemporary land mark. At present, there is a trend to show these unique features by emphasizing local traditions or recreating historical ones that were often forgotten a long time ago. Viticulture is one of these activities that becomes an important element of the culture and landscape development. This is also a determinant of the agri- and gastronomic tourism. Historically, Central and Eastern Europe had smaller vineyard areas than Western and particularly Southern European regions, mainly because of the climate conditions. However, viticulture traditions were developed in some western parts of Poland, especially in Lower Silesia. Our analysis of historical documents indicated that in the past cities such as Zielona Góra, Gubin, Krosno, Sulechów and Świebodzin were well-known European viticulture centres. Nowadays, as a result of the stronger position of regions in Europe, their wine-making history is being re- cognized, new production vineyards are being created, and campaigns are being launched to encourage vine- yards and visits for tasting local wines. Our study of regional economic trends has revealed that oenological tourism has perceived as an important element of the economic development of historical wine-making regions and former vineyards. Museums, thematic parks, tourist routes and even wine spa are being established. These activities perfectly fit in with agricultural tourism, creating an important group of the wine tourism and support interesting, individual forms and characteristics of regional culture. Based on the experiences of the Lubusz Province (Poland) a conceptual framework for the development of oenological tourism has been proposed for other Central and Eastern European, but also worldwide regions with a history of viticultural land use. 1. Introduction Agricultural landscapes associated with viticulture (winescapes) are typical for the old wine-making-regions of southern and western Europe where they are regarded as something obvious and permanent. Despite the fact that the intensive development of viticulture in the Mediterranean countries results in less diverse landscapes (Kelly et al., 2016; Nascimbene et al., 2016) and reduces biodiversity (Assandria et al., 2016; Gómez et al., 2015a), those areas are tourist destinations and national heritages (Hall et al., 2000; Sparks, 2007). Landscapes based on vineyards are an element of contemporary economy and a valuable object of the culture and economic history of the continent (Špulerová et al., 2015; Montero Garcia et al., 2017) that is often in- cluded in the UNESCO World Heritage List (Lourenço-Gomesa et al., 2015). According to the Organization Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin – OIV (2018), the total area of vineyards in the European Union is about 3.3 mha. In Central Europe vines are commercially grown in Austria (45 kha), Bulgaria (63 kha), Czech Republic (19.6 kha), Ger- many (102 kha), Hungary (62 kha), Slovakia (18.7 kha), Romania (191 kha) and Poland (0.5 kha) (Kubal and Piziak, 2010 after Pav- loušek, OIV, 2018). In Eastern Europe, vines are grown in the Ukraine and Russia where the total area of vineyards is respectively 75 kha and 63 kha (Vystavna et al., 2014; OIV, 2018). Apart from their traditional economic function, vineyard areas in many regions of Europe, contribute to the development of oenological tourism (enotourism), which originates from journeys made by mer- chants in search of the best wines (Kohl, 1874). In the 1920s the first educational routes were established in Germany, the so-called https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.04.010 Received 29 November 2018; Received in revised form 1 April 2019; Accepted 3 April 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: University of Zielona Gora, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Geoengineering and Reclamation, 15 Prof. Z. Szafrana St., 65-516, Zielona Gora, Poland. E-mail address: A.Greinert@iis.uz.zgora.pl (A. Greinert). Land Use Policy 85 (2019) 249–258 0264-8377/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. T