| Project Detail |
Equipping European vineyards with adaptation strategies
Changing precipitation patterns in the EU pose significant challenges to the wine sector, jeopardising its stability and productivity. As extreme weather events become more frequent, vineyards struggle to adapt to the shifting climate conditions. This urgent need for adaptation prompts the European wine industry to seek innovative solutions to ensure its resilience. Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the IsWINE project will quantify land management’s impact on vineyard water resources. Looking to New Zealand’s sustainable practices for inspiration, the project will carry out pilots in Northern Spain and New Zealand. It uses isotope geochemistry to assess soil moisture, grapevine water uptake, and water use efficiency.In the EU, changing precipitation patterns pose challenges to the wine sector, urging it to adapt to shifting climate conditions. IsWINE aims to quantify the effect of land management practices on the water pool of vineyards, providing valuable information on climate change adaptation. As European winegrowers increasingly recognize the urgency of harmonizing sustainability practices with economic viability and grape quality, New Zealand vineyards stand out as role models, demonstrating their long-standing commitment to sustainability. At the intersection of environmental and agricultural sciences, IsWINE will establish two pilots, one in Northern Spain and another in New Zealand, to empirically test the correlation between different land management practices and soil moisture, grapevine water uptake, and water use efficiency of grapevines using isotope geochemistry. This approach will allow meaningful insights into vineyard resilience and cross-learning between the two regions. EU wine stakeholders will participate in defining adaptive management measures resulting from the pilots, thereby delivering tangible solutions aligned with the sector. By generating actionable knowledge, IsWINE can equip European vineyards with adaptation measures to balance environmental stewardship and agricultural productivity. These efforts align with the European Green Deal and the Common Agricultural Policy, supporting many strategies and two EU Missions of the Member States. IsWINE will be hosted by three highly qualified institutions. The outgoing phase (24 months) will take place at the University of Auckland under the guidance of Asso. Prof. Luitgard Schwendenmann, the return phase (12 months) at the Neiker Technology Center under the supervision of Dr. Ana Aizpurua, and a secondment (3 months) will take place at the University of Barcelona under the guidance of Dr. Adrià Barbeta. |
