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Work Package 1A

Adaptation to Climate Change

Lead: Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Lead researcher: Melissa van der Merwe on LinkedIn, opens an external website in a new window

What this Work Package is about lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consecutur

Climate change is already reshaping viticulture worldwide: rising temperatures, increasingly irregular rainfall, more frequent extreme weather events. WP1a was designed to respond to this challenge with concrete, replicable tools that help producers guide their decisions — where to plant, how to manage the vineyard, which varieties to adopt — in a rapidly changing context.
The work brings together two worlds of wine: the tradition-bound Old World of Europe, and the more experimentally flexible New World regions — South Africa, Argentina, Chile. Comparing these approaches produces meso-scale adaptation models, sustainable vineyard management strategies (irrigation, soil management, precision viticulture), experiments with more resistant grape varieties such as Piwi grapes, economic assessments of how sustainable these strategies are over time, and an analysis of the regulatory frameworks that currently hinder or support the adoption of more resilient practices.

Expected impact

WINES’ expected technological impact centres precisely on some of this WP’s outputs: the meso-scale site selection model and the climate resilience model for vineyard management provide tools producers can genuinely apply, not just academic theory. At the economic level, the findings feed into practical, testable and replicable recommendations designed to strengthen the resilience of wine businesses, industry associations and entire wine regions in the face of a changing climate.

Task

  • Task 1.1

    Local-scale site selection

    Development and refinement of meso-scale site selection models to supplement macro-scale climate projections and micro-level vineyard decision-making options towards a localised decision-making framework for viticulture

  • Task 1.2

    Climate-resilient vineyard management

    Development of climate resilience models for vineyard management (sustainable irrigation, soil management practices), including precision viticulture

  • Task 1.3

    New climate-resistant varieties

    Assessment of the feasibility of existing varieties in new regions and experiments with new grape varieties such as Piwi grapes

  • Task 1.4

    Economic viability of adaptation

    Assessment of the economic viability, cost-effectiveness, impacts, producer returns, and long-term sustainability of both established and emerging climate-adaptation strategies to support producers’ decision-making processes

  • Task 1.5

    Regulatory frameworks and governance

    Evaluation of regulatory and governance frameworks affecting varietal and site adaptation to inform more flexible, forward-looking regulatory approaches.

Work Package 1A News & Events

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