Abstracts

Abiotic stresses are diverse such as changing water availabity, increasing temperatures, elevated CO₂ and increased sunshine hours, to name only a few. Grapevines have to handle the changing environment. Part of the session is dedicated to exploring how plants respond to abiotic stresses.  In addition, grapevines are exposed to diseases and pathogens such as Plasmoparaviticola, Botrytis cinerea or Drosophila suzuikii. How does these biotic stresses alter the grapevine performance? Are there adaptation strategies?

Abiotic and biotic stresses pose significant challenges to grapevines, impacting their growth, yield, and overall performance. Understanding how grapevines respond to these stresses and the adaptation strategies they employ is crucial for improving vineyard management and ensuring sustainable grape production.

Organic and biodynamic viticulture as two possible sustainable management systems have been gaining in importance in viticulture for more than two decades. All aspects of organic and biodynamic viticulture, such as cover cropping, under-vine management, composting, and different spraying regimes, can be coveredin this session. While facing challenges such as global warming and its implications, the assessment of the sustainability of viticulture systems is crucial for further developing practical solutions. Thus, assessing the sustainability of different viticulture systems as well as methodologies for sustainability evaluation in viticulture can be addressed here.

Developing grapevine varieties with enhanced tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stresses through traditional breeding or genetic engineering is a primary adaptation strategy. The breeding of new varieties, e.g. fungi resistant varieties, grapevines with loose bunches, or drought tolerant varieties, helps to mitigate the impact of climate change. But the belowground plant material can also contribute to the spread of vines in less favourable conditions. Selecting appropriate rootstocks that are more resistant to drought, salinity, or soil-borne diseases can improve grapevine resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses. With new digitizing technologies it is possible to understand the difference in the root growth of rootstocks.

The soil has a very diverse and complex effect on vine growth. Vineyard soil management practices can be considered as a first protection strategy to improve grape quality and reduce the effects of climate change. At the same time, viticulture must also face up to the challenges of water availability, irrigation requirements and scheduling. Soils with low water-holding capacity in particular suffer during hot, dry summers. However, drought stress can also occur in vineyards with a high water-holding capacity if the soil is not sufficiently replenished during winter. In the future, this will also raise questions about the quality of the vineyard sites. In many areas, viticulture must develop methods and concepts in order to continue to produce high-quality wine profiles typical of the region under rapidly changing conditions.

The integration of digitization, mechanization, and robotics in viticulture represents a technological revolution that addresses key challenges faced by the industry (e.g. labor and resource efficiency, documentation etc.). These technologies enable grape producers to operate more efficiently, sustainably, and profitably. By leveraging precise data, reducing labor dependency, and enhancing operational accuracy, viticulturists are enabled to tackle societal, environmental, and economic challenges. Embracing these innovations not only ensures higher-quality wine production but also promotes a more sustainable and resilient viticulture industry.

Maintaining and improving biodiversity in vineyards is one major future challenge. The assessment of biodiversity can range from microbiome assays to the monitoring of flora and fauna, to an assessment of biodiversity on a regional scale using a broad range of measures. Effects of strategies that improve biodiversity within the vineyard, such as the use of cover crops, the reduction of pesticide use as well as the effects of agroforestry, intercropping and the creation of different habitats on a farm or regional scale, can be presented here.

Data management and modeling are key strategies that significantly improve the outcomes of grapevine research. Research data management ensures the quality, accessibility, and preservation of research data, fostering exchange and collaboration among researchers. Modeling provides a deeper understanding of grapevine metabolism and complex grapevine-environment interactions, and is vital for predictive as well as ideotype breeding strategies. Together, these strategies enable researchers to match genotypes and environments, optimize resource use and vineyard management, and develop resilient grapevine varieties, ultimately advancing the science and practice of viticulture.

By bringing practitioners and researchers together, we need to address adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change and focus on better implementing the technologies and practices known as smart viticulture. We will need to raise awareness of new ideas, the importance and benefits of biodiversity or strategies for reducing or displacing emissions or enhancing removal. Vineyards are usually cultivated in soils characterized by low soil organic carbon content and have high risks of soil erosion and degradation. How will the vineyards of the future be managed and how might we combine viticulture and electricity production to create additional synergies?

The news of Freixenet temporarily laying off a large part of their workforce due to a devastating drought is only the most recent and visible symptom of an industry highly affected by climate change. There is, however, little knowledge about viticultural possibilities to sustainably maintain productivity, typicality, and suitability for sparkling wine production under changing climatic conditions. This session is dedicated to addressing this specialized topic and aims to open up a dialogue with sparkling wine enologists.