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Logroño, (EFE).- The Regulatory Council of the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin (DOCa) leads a smart viticulture project, which aims to provide winegrowers and wineries with the most suitable cultivation techniques to combat the effects of climate change on the variety. native and star of this Denomination, which is the Tempranillo ink.
As the technical director of the Council, Pablo Franco, has informed EFE, this is one of the most important projects started two years ago in Rioja, which reflects the commitment and drive to digitalization and innovation by the DOCa Rioja, throughout of the entire value chain, as stated in its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.
The project, called ‘Datadoc’, has a duration of four years; It is co-financed by the European Agrarian Social Fund for Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of La Rioja; It has been awarded a subsidy of 219,346 euros and has the scientific contribution of the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences (ICVV) and the Agrarian Research and Plant Health Service of the Rioja Executive.
‘Datadoc’, Franco explained, studies the cycle and behavior of the Tempranillo grape vineyard and the influence of climate change on this variety, of which there are 52,147 hectares planted in Rioja, which represent 80% of the red grapes in Rioja. This Denomination, which shares almost 66,000 hectares distributed between La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarra.
The research is focused on being able to propose specific agronomic strategies, such as the use of different types of soil or increasing the planting altitude, among other variables, that allow the Rioja vineyard to adapt to climatic conditions.
View of a strain. A pioneering smart viticulture project will help Rioja combat the effects of climate change, which the technical director of the Regulatory Council of the Rioja Qualified Designation of Origin, Pablo Fanco, has informed EFE.- EFE/ Raquel Manzanares
Vineyard motorization
Currently, the research is in the middle of its development, with the “motorization” phase of the vineyard, which consists of data collection and is the “most important and relevant” because it will allow “modeling” future aspects of management and techniques. of cultivation to mitigate the effect of climate change on the vineyard, detailed the technical director of the Regulatory Council.
For this motorization, a network of sensorized plots and agroclimatic stations has been established, which facilitate obtaining climatic information, in real time, on the behavior of the vineyard cycle in this variety.
In a complementary manner, these data are uploaded to a digital platform, which is fed with all the historical agronomic information available to the Regulatory Council on the behavior and evolution of the Tempranillo variety in Rioja, its phenological states and productions, among other indicators.
With all the historical agronomic data and, through the use of artificial intelligence techniques, it has already been possible to develop a predictive model to determine, with an accuracy of 95%, the moment of flowering, the closing of the cluster and the veraison in the vineyards of tempranillo.
The technical director has highlighted the scope of this smart viticulture project, whose final results can be “revealing”, since the conclusions that are beginning to be obtained are “very interesting” and will be reflected in recommendations for cultivation and management of the vineyard that help viticulturists and wineries to mitigate and combat the effects of climate change.
Rioja is ahead due to its diversity
The Rioja Regulatory Council decided on this project aware that climate change is “a challenge and a challenge”, in this case, for the vineyard, which faces “climatic instability”.
This requires, he stressed, anticipating to mitigate its effects, trying to vary the profiles of the wines as little as possible, “remaining Rioja” for the consumer and seeking differentiation in the wines of this Denomination with respect to other areas.
“Extreme temperatures, heat waves, stormy rainfall at delicate times and other periods with the absence of water, create difficulty when managing the crop,” which explains the importance of having and controlling these effects, which will condition the way of cultivating the vineyard, he specified.
Furthermore, the DOCa Rioja, thanks to its diversity, is one step ahead of other wine-growing territories by having grape varieties that “adapt very well to this climate change”, such as Graciano or Mazuelo and Garnacha Tinta in the red grape varieties”, which gives it “a small advantage” over other areas.
