terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Spatial determination of areas in the Western Balkans region favorable for organic production

Spatial determination of areas in the Western Balkans region favorable for organic production

Abstract

In problematic conditions for production of grapes and wine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting occurrence of wine surpluses, producers are increasingly turning to the innovative viticulture and winemaking of products that are more appealing to the market and the consumers. On the other hand, consumption of the food safety or organic products, and therefore of organic grapes and wine, is increasingly common in the world, in particular in Europe. The Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group (SWG RRD), as a regional intergovernmental organization gathers actors in the viticulture and winemaking sector from states and territories of the Western Balkans (South-East Europe) in the Expert Working Group for Wine, with the aim of improving viticulture and winemaking in this region through joint activities. In accordance with the aforementioned, the SWG RRD is working on advancing organic production of grapes and wine, and on recognition of specificities of the terroir of wine-growing areas in Western Balkans. In addition, as part of the project “Facilitation of Exchange and Advice on Wine Regulations in Western Balkan Countries” helmed by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in addition to harmonization of relevant legislation with EU regulations, efforts are being invested towards recognition of organic wines. Within activities and project implemented by this organization, expert analyses and scientific research of the terroir of Western Balkans were carried out, and some of the results are presented in this paper.

The basis for production of organic grapes and wine is the achieved ideal balance between all abiotic and anthropogenic terroir factors, and one of the concepts for creating such a complex system is the selection of areas and locations with optimal conditions for (in this case organic) production of grapes and wine. This paper presents spatial determination of areas and localities that could potentially satisfy conditions for organic production of grapes and wine. Research included the territory of Western Balkans, that is, territories of members of the SWG RRD. Being the key topographic terroir factor for spatial determination of areas with favorable conditions for organic production of grapes and wine, exposure of terrains up to 600 m elevation was examined. Application of the digital elevation model (DEM) in the ArcGIS software selected areas with south, southeast and southwest terrain exposure as the most favorable exposure with respect to Western Balkans. The analyzed climate terroir factor that is significant for spatial selection of areas with high potential for organic production of grapes and wine was wind speed. GIS technology, with use of raster data from the Global Wind Atlas application, was used to select areas with favorable winds. Spatial and attribute data on median annual wind speeds in the interval between 4 and 6 m/s and in the interval between 6 and 8 m/s was analyzed.

 The biggest wine producer that currently also has the most surfaces under organic vineyards in the Western Balkans region is North Macedonia. However, after the research and spatial analysis was carried out it was determined that most of the selected surfaces with favorable exposure and wind speeds can be found in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the highest share of determined favorable surfaces in comparison with total surfaces of relevant countries/territories can be found in Serbia and Albania.

 With respect to the share of surfaces of selected areas with favorable exposure for potential organic production of grapes in comparison with the surfaces of zoned wine-growing areas, Montenegro has the highest potential with almost 6% of such favorable surfaces. Considering that the Western Balkans region has the spatially determined potential for organic production on surfaces totaling 173,252.52 ha according to the terroir factors examined in this paper, the possibility for increasing organic production of grapes and wine in specific spatially determined locations in members of SWG RRD is significant. All of this indicates the necessity for more active use of such positive terroir potentials of wine-growing areas in this part of Europe.

DOI:

Publication date: May 5, 2022

Issue: Terclim 2022

Type: Poster

Authors

Darko Jaksic1, Vesna Maras2, Milenko Blesic3, Tatjana Jovanovic-Cvetkovic4, Klime Beleski5, Dragoslav Ivanisevic6, Ylber Kuci7, Elton Basha8 and Ivan Bradic9

1Centre for Viticulture and Oenology Niš, Belgrade, Serbia
2University of Donja Gorica, Faculty for Food Technology, Food Safety and Ecology, Podgorica, Montenegro
3University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
4University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Agriculture, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
5University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Institute of Agriculture, Department for Viticulture and Oenology, Skopje, North Macedonia
6University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture, Department for Fruit Growing, Viticulture, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Novi Sad, Serbia
7Department for Vineyards and Wine, MAFRD, Kosovo
8Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
9Centre for Viticulture and Oenology Niš, 37230 Aleksandrovac, Serbia

Contact the author

Keywords

terroir, terrain exposure, wind speed, organic production of grapes and wine, Western Balkans region

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terclim 2022

Citation

Related articles…

Late frost protection in Champagne

Probably one of the most counterintuitive impacts of climate change on vine is the increased frequency of late frost. Champagne, due to its septentrional position is historically and regularly affected by this meteorological hazard. Champagne has therefore developed a strong experience in frost protection with first experiments dating from the end of 19th century. Frost protection can be divided in two parts: passive and active. Passive protection includes all the methods that do not seek to modify the vine’s environment or resistance at the time of frost. The most iconic passive protection in Champagne is the establishment of the individual reserve. This reserve allows to stock a certain quantity of clear wine during a surplus year to compensate a meteorological hazard like frost during the following years. Other common passive methods are the control of planting area (walls, bushes, topography), the choice of grape variety, late pruning, or the impact of grass cover and tillage. Active frost protection is also divided in two parts. Most of the existing techniques tend to modify vine’s environment. Most of the time they provide warmth (candles, heaters, windmills, heating cables…), or stabilise bud’s temperature above a lethal threshold (water sprinkling). The other way to actively fight is to enhance the resistance of buds to frost (elicitors). The Comité Champagne evaluates frost protection methods following three main axes: the efficiency, the profitability, and the environmental impact through a lifecycle assessment. This study will present the results on both passive and active protection following these three axes.

Assessment of the impact of actions in the vineyard and its surrounding environment on biodiversity in Rioja Alavesa (Spain)

Traditional viticulture areas have experienced in the last decades an intensification of field practices, linked to an increased use of fertilisers and phytosanitary products, and to a more intensive mechanization and uniformization of the landscape. This change in management has sometimes led to higher rates of soil erosion andloss of soil structure, fertility decline, groundwater contamination, and to an increased pressure of pests and diseases. Additionally, intensification usually leads to a simplification of landscapes, of particular concern in prestigious wine grape regions where the economical revenue encourages the conversion of land use from natural habitats to high value wine grape production. To revert this trend, it is necessary that growers implement actions that promote biodiversity in their vineyards. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the implementation of cover crops, vegetational corridors, dry stone walls and vineyard biodiversity hotspots estimated through the study of arthropods. The work has been carried out in four vineyards in Rioja Alavesa belonging to Ostatu winery, where these infrastructures were implemented in 2020. The presence and diversity of arthropods was studied by capturing them at different times in the season and at different distances from the infrastructure using pit-fall traps in the soil and yellow, white and blue chromatic traps at the canopy level. This is a preliminary study in which all adult insects were sorted to the taxonomic level of order and Coleoptera were classified to morphospecies. The results obtained show that there is a relationship between the basic characteristics of the vineyard and the arthropods captured, with a positive effect, although also dependent on the vineyard, of the presence of infrastructure.

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...

Evaluation of climate change impacts at the Portuguese Dão terroir over the last decades: observed effects on bioclimatic indices and grapevine phenology

In the last decades the growers of the Portuguese Dão winegrowing region (center of Portugal) are experiencing changes in climate that are influencing either grape phenology berry health and ripening. Aiming to study the relationships between climate indices (CI), seasonal weather and grapevine phenology, in this work long-term climate and phenological data collected at the experimental vineyard of the Portuguese Dão research centre between 1958 and 2019 (61 years) for the red variety Touriga Nacional, was analyzed. The trends over time for the classical temperature-based indices (Growing Season Temperature – GST -, Growing Degree Days – GDD, Huglin Index – HI and Cool Night Index – CI) presented a significantly positive slope while the Dryness Index (DI) showed a negative trend over the last 61 years. Regarding grapevine phenology, an average advance of 4.5 days per decade in the harvest day was observed throughout the last 61 years. Consequently, the weather conditions during the ripening period have changed, showing an increasing trend over time in the average temperature (higher magnitude in the maximum than in the minimum temperature) and a decrease in the accumulated rainfall. A regression analysis showed that ~50% of harvest date variability over years was explained by the temperature-based indices variability. These observed effects of climate change on bioclimatic indices and corresponding anticipation of harvest date can still be considered advantageous for the Dão terroir as it allows to achieve an optimal berry ripening before the common equinox rains and, therefore, avoid the potential negative impacts of the rainfall on berry health and composition.

Simulating climate change impact on viticultural systems in historical and emergent vineyards

Global climate change affects regional climates and hold implications for wine growing regions worldwide. Although winegrowers are constantly adapting to internal and external factors, it seems relevant to develop tools, which will allow them to better define actual and future agro-climatic potentials. Within this context, we develop a modelling approach, able to simulate the impact of environmental conditions and constraints on vine behaviour and to highlight potential adaptation strategies according to different climate change scenarios. Our modeling approach, named SEVE (Simulating Environmental impacts on Viticultural Ecosystems), provides a generic modeling framework for simulating grapevine growth and berry ripening under different conditions and constraints (slope, aspect, soil type, climate variability…) as well as production strategies and adaptation rules according to climate change scenarios. Each activity is represented by an autonomous agent able to react and adapt its reaction to the variability of environmental constraints. Using this model, we have recently analyzed the evolution of vineyards’ exposure to climatic risks (frost, pathogen risk, heat wave) and the adaptation strategies potentially implemented by the winegrowers. This approach, implemented for two climate change scenarios, has been initiated in France on traditional (Loire Valley) and emerging (Brittany) vineyards. The objective is to identify the time horizons of adaptations and new opportunities in these two regions. Carried out in collaboration with wine growers, this approach aims to better understand the variability of climate change impacts at local scale in the medium and long term.