Author: Miranda García (AEIDL)
On 13th July 2022, the team of Vinidea, which is the coordinator for the MOVING Reference Regions of Italy, Spain and Portugal, organised a virtual workshop in collaboration with Excell Ibérica. The event was focused on the main challenges of mountain wine value chains in the context of climate change.
Vinidea presented the preliminary results of the analysis of the three value chains that belong to viticulture and wine production, specifically the Trento Doc wine area in Eastern Alps (Italy), the Douro wine area in Maçico Central (Portugal) and the mountain wine linked to the landscape of Ayerbe/Loarre in Pyrenees (Spain). The analysis found that water availability, extreme weather events, soil degradation, and depopulation are some of the factors that prevent the development of viticulture in these regions.
Experts Marc Prohom, from the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, and Manuel López-Vicente, from the University of A Coruña, also shared some insights on the effects of climate change on the mountain wine value chains.
Prohom made simulations of the future evolution of the climate to find out the effects that could have on the winemaking process. Using the Spanish Pyrenees as an example, he highlighted that drought and physical degradation of soils in mountain wine-growing areas are the two main challenges faced by viticulturists. López-Vicente highlighted the benefits of planted plant cover for the conservation of soil, water, carbon and nutrients in a Mediterranean vineyard on dry land.
Check out here the recording of the workshop to know more about this topic.