Welcome from the project coordinator

The winemaking sector is a major socioeconomic activity throughout many European regions where its sustainability is currently threatened by changing climates and environments. Since viticulture is highly vulnerable to climate change, the ability to model climate-grapevine interactions is of utmost relevance to grapevine growth monitoring and prediction, as well as to assessing the potential climate change impacts on the viticulture sector.

Accurate and local-scale assessments, taking into account microclimates and local specificities, are critical for identifying suitable, timely and cost-effective adaptation measures to mitigate climate change impacts and to be eventually implemented by the European winemaking sector. Hence, knowledge transfer, capacity-building and data sharing among research and development (R&D) organizations, stakeholders and policymakers is of foremost importance for the future sustainability of this key economic sector in Europe.

Within this context, the European Commission (EC) has granted funding to the project Clim4Vitis – Climate change impact mitigation for European viticulture under the Horizon 2020 programme. The prime objective of Clim4Vitis is to strengthen capacity and performance in two main specific fields of research in Viticulture & Climate:

Grapevine modelling;
Methods and tools for assessing climate change impacts on European viticulture, in general, and on grapevine productivity, quality attributes and risk of diseases and pests, in particular.

Clim4Vitis is a 3 year project coordinated by the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal, in consortium with the following partners: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany; Università degli studi di Firenze (UNIFI), Italy; Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST); and Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI), Portugal. The entire consortium is strongly motivated and I am looking forward to the new project developments, capacity building actions and dissemination.

The 1st Clim4Vitis conference took place in Vila Real (Portugal), in February 2019

Hans Reiner Schultz (Geisenheim University, Germany), Benjamin Bois (CRC-UMR, France), Iñaki Garcia de Cortazar Atauri (INRA, France),
José Holtreman Roquette (Esporão, Portugal) and UTAD hosts (Artur Cristóvão, Vice-rector, Ana Barros, CITAB director and João Santos, Clim4Vitis coordinator)

The project will implement a set of Capacity Building Actions which represent the educational, training and mentoring actions to promote knowledge & technology transfer between partners. In the Clim4Vitis project, this activity will be carried out through Thematic Workshops, Seminars, Staff exchange, Short Courses, Webinars and Conferences. The first Clim4Vitis conference was held at Vila Real (Portugal), from 18th to 21st February 2019, during which several events (launch event, workshop, short courses and the second project meeting) were organized.

The project public launch event took place on the 19th of February. Four internationally renowned key speakers, from academia and industry, were invited to present the most advanced research outreaches related to viticulture and climate change. Representatives from major wineries, public entities and academia attended the event.

During the “grapevine modelling” workshop, held on the 18-19th February 2019, the Clim4Vitis partners presented their research on climate and crop simulation models. A surprising 113 participants, among students, researchers and relevant stakeholders, attended this event.

The “Viticulture & Climate Change” short courses, held on the 20th February 2019, were given by the Clim4Vitis partners in order to raise audience awareness on the climate change impact in viticulture. The short courses were attended by about 80 participants (among students, researcher and stakeholders). The short course addressed topics such as observation and modeling of the climate system, past and future projections in climate change in Luxembourg and climate changes projection and analysis of some approaches for evaluating the impact of climate change on viticulture.

The Clim4Vitis consortium had the opportunity to visit the Douro valley on the 21st February 2019. The study visit was held at "Quinta do Crasto" (https://quintadocrasto.pt), located in the Cima Corgo sub-region inside the Douro & Port Demarcated Region. In this area, the particular environmental conditions and the peculiarity of the Terroir makes "Quinta do Crasto" one of the most famous property for the production of Douro wines.

For the photos from the Vila Real event, please click here.

For the abstracts and the presentations from the Vila Real event, please click here.

For more information, please click here.

Clim4Vitis dissemination at external events

Clim4Vitis partners disseminated the project at several events during the project first months:

From the 3rd to the 7th of September, the project was presented at the annual European Meteorological Society meeting in Budapest, Hungary;
On the 6th of February 2019, at the annual assembly of the Luxembourgish wine growers, attended by more than 150 wine growers, politicians, consultants, marketing experts, researchers and some guests from Germany and South-Tyrol;
On the 7th of March 2019, Clim4Vitis project presentation at the training course for winegrowers, Trento (Italy);
From the 24th to the 26th of March 2019, at the Agriculture and Climate Change Conference, in Budapest (Hungary), where a poster was presented.

11-13th June 2019

From the 11th to 13th June 2019, the Clim4Vitis project will be presented at the XXII National Agrometeorology Conference that will be held in Naples (Italy).

24-25th June 2019

From 24th to 25th June 2019, the Clim4Vitis project will be presented at the 2nd International Conference of the ADAPTtoCLIMATE project that will be held in Crete (Greece).

28-31st May 2019

From the 28th to the 31st of May, the Clim4Vitis project will be presented at the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2019 that will be held in Lisbon (Portugal).

9-13th September 2019

From the 9th to the 13th of September, the project will be presented at the European Meteorological Society meeting 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Clim4Vitis in the journals and in the news

The consortium has disseminated the project not only in scientific events but also in some major newspapers and radio channels, with the potential to reach a much larger audience in the partner countries.

Check out more at https://clim4vitis.eu/clippings

Upcoming public project event

The next event of Clim4Vitis project will be held in Florence from the 9th to the 12th of July 2019.

The programme is already available and registrations are open!

Register here

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under
grant agreement nº 810176. This document reflects only the author’s view and the Commission is not responsible for
any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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