Pucci Giuffrida’s Al Cantara winery is perched on the cool slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily, growing grapes on 15 hectares of rich volcanic soil and producing around 100,000 bottles of wine a year.
Mount Etna typically has cooler temperatures and better air circulation than the scorching Sicilian plains below, providing an ideal microclimate for viticulture. But last year, southern Italy was hit by continuous rain in May and June, which led to the spread of the fungus. malaria parasitethrives in warm, humid conditions.
The fungus, first discovered in the United States and brought to Europe with the beginning of transatlantic shipping, causes downy mildew on grapes and wreaks havoc on vineyards throughout southern Italy. Al Qantara’s fall harvest was less than 60 tons, about half of the usual harvest of 100 to 120 tons.
Giuffrida, 72, a former accountant who started making wine in 2005, said, “In the last 18 years, I have never seen a crop so damaged.” “The bunches of grapes were petrified, like small stones. Some of the neighbors didn’t even pick a bunch.”
In the main wine-producing regions of southern Italy, many vineyards lost 80 to 100 percent of their yield, and wine production for Italy as a whole fell by about 15 to 20 percent.
“Growers cannot remember in the last 20 years such an onslaught of mildew, unseasonal rains, so much moisture, or such losses in production,” said Confaglio, Italy’s oldest company. Palma Esposito, senior policy advisor for wine and olive oil at Rutura. Agriculture and Agribusiness Association. “It was really remarkable.”
Italy’s coveted position as the world’s largest wine producer, which it had held for the past nine years, has been usurped by France. Experts have warned that the effects of the pathogen will be felt again this year, underscoring the threat posed by climate change to Italy’s viticulture.
Viticulture in Italy once operated within a fairly predictable seasonal pattern. However, increasingly unstable weather and the increasing frequency of extreme events such as drought, excessive off-season precipitation, and hail are creating new challenges.
Chiara Lungarotti, CEO of Umbria-based Lungarotti Estate, says growers need to be more careful with their vines to keep them healthy in a volatile climate. says.
“We have to be very flexible in our approach,” she explains. “The weather is ever-changing. There are no fixed seasons like before. To make a difference, you need to understand how to get into the vineyard at the right time.”
Esposito said Italian authorities, grape growers and winemakers are now focused on increasing the resilience of vineyards to secure the future of the vineyards, which exported wine worth €8 billion in 2022. “This is a very urgent issue,” he said. “We are discussing it at national and European level.”
Vines are hardy plants, and winemakers have long considered low water stress an advantage, producing grapes with good levels of sugar content and flavor. However, excess moisture produces too many low-quality grapes. Severe water shortages amid extreme heat caused by global warming could also cause grapes to become too sugary, producing strong wines that are unpopular with consumers.
Many wine producers are concerned about this happening in southern Italy, which is already hot and dry. “The market doesn’t want wines that are too alcoholic,” Esposito says.
Many growers are now turning to technology such as soil sensors and overhead drones to monitor their vineyards and determine exactly where intervention is needed to maintain a healthy balance.
“Precision viticulture really helps,” says Lungarotti. “Drones help us create maps of our vineyards with incredible ease. We create this map that gives different colors depending on the strength and vigor of the plants. You can go to a place and be most focused.”
Interventions include emergency irrigation in case of danger and applying kaolin or other clays to grape bunches. This helps deflect the sun’s rays and keep the fruit cool in case of extreme heat.
Digital sensors can also help farmers fight infectious diseases. malaria parasiteThis can be controlled by timely and targeted application of copper-based fungicides, which are approved for use in the EU, albeit in limited quantities.
“If a plant is suffering, we might be able to notice it earlier,” says Riccardo Velasco, director of the Viticulture and Oenology Research Center at Clare, Italy’s leading public agricultural research center. “Sensors tell us which parts are healthy and which parts are at risk, so we can intervene only in problem areas.”
New grape varieties may also be helpful. Velasco, a geneticist, breeds pathogen-resistant varieties by crossing naturally resistant genes found in local grapes with wild vines in the United States. malaria parasite. These new varieties, whose development was partly funded by Confagricoltura, are currently undergoing field trials.
Velasco is also using new breeding techniques to develop rootstocks that are more tolerant to water stress, and the first field trials of these will begin soon. Meanwhile, other research institutes are using traditional hybridization techniques to develop more drought-resistant rootstocks.
But Lungarotti emphasizes that technology is only part of the solution. Paying close attention to the basics of vineyard management, such as managing the tree canopy (stems and leaves), processing the soil and maintaining its biodiversity, and keeping waterways clear to allow for runoff after rains, also helps keep plants It makes a difference in making it bearable. harsher climate.
“It’s a matter of balance,” she says. “Very modern technology is something we cannot live without today. But on the other hand, we have to preserve the local environment. An important part of our work is It’s the maintenance you paid for.”
Nevertheless, rising temperatures are pushing vineyards to ever higher elevations. On Mount Etna, new vineyards have been established at heights up to 1,200 meters above sea level, which were previously considered unfavorable for viticulture.
Giuffrida said she is now looking at the potential of high-altitude properties to rent or buy in the face of global warming. “This is a solution we are evaluating,” he says. “But I am confident that with technology we can maintain the quantity and quality of production.”