The “resources profile®”: a relevant decision and support system for adapting viticultural practices to soils agronomic properties and limiting their environmental impacts

Pour son travail de cartographie et de caractérisation des terroirs, la Cellule Terroirs Viticoles utilise la méthode développée par l’Unité Vigne et Vin du Centre INRA d’Angers. Cette méthode reconnue au niveau international est appliquée dans les vignobles du Val de Loire à l’échelle du 1/10 000e et est valorisée par des éditions d’Atlas Viticoles à destination des viticulteurs et des organismes techniques.

Aim: The aim of this report is to present evidence on the potential of Greek and Cypriot grape varieties to serve as a sustainable solution to mitigate climate change.

Methods and Results: The work provides a review of recent works involving Greek and Cypriot varieties’ performance under high temperatures and increased dryness.

Downy mildew, caused by Plasmopara viticola, is the most economically impactful disease affecting grapevines. This polycyclic pathogen triggers both primary and secondary infection cycles, resulting in significant yield losses when effective disease control measures are lacking. Over the winter, the pathogen survives by forming resting structures, the oospores, derived from sexual reproduction, which produce the inoculum for primary infections. To optimize grapevine downy mildew control and obtain the desired levels of production while minimizing chemical inputs, it is crucial to optimize the timeframe for fungicide application. Disease forecasting models are useful to identify the infection risk.

The presence of undesirable compounds in wines, such as ota, biogenic amines and pesticides residues, affects wine quality and can cause health problems for the consumer. Additionally, an excess of tannins can produce an undesirable increase in the astringency and bitterness of the wine, so tannins are also a target for reduction. The main tool that a winemaker has to reduce their content in the wine is fining. However, some of the fining agents commonly used in the winery can cause allergies or even increase the protein content in the wine, increasing the turbidity.

The sustainability certification ‘nachhaltig austria’ (www.sustainableaustria.com) has been offered to austrian wineries in an online version for 10 years and over 25% of the austrian wine-growing area is now certified. Since the 2022 harvest, ‘nachhaltig austria’ has automatically calculated the carbon footprint for each winery, per hectare of vineyard, per litre of bulk wine and per 0.75-litre bottle (poelz, w. And rosner, f.g. 2023). In last year’s publications and numerous presentations at national and international level, topics such as refilling glass bottles, lightweight glass bottles, renewable energy, … Etc.