LocationsMoldovan wine-makers have access to a regenerative viticulture platform, created with UNDP-Czech support
November 7, 2024
Moldovan winemakers and their stakeholders can monitor, in real time, the level and quality of regenerative agriculture taking place in their vineyards through the new Re.Wine platform - the result of collaboration between Czech Big Terra and the Moldovan National Association of Rural Development (ACSA).
Re-Wine platform was developed through the Czech-UNDP Challenge Fund, an initiative implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
Regenerative agriculture is changing winemaking and contributing to combating climate change. Regenerative cultivation of grapes aims to drive soil health restoration, undoing the damage of past decades and adapting to and attempting to mitigate the effects of climate change. Therefore, increasing biodiversity — from planting cover crops and trees to introducing beneficial insects and animals — creates what are called “ecosystem services”. These benefit the vine and its surroundings by helping fix nitrogen in lieu of fertilizer, helping retain water, preventing soil erosion and attracting insects and birds that can help suppress soil pathogens and combat vine pests.
At the same time, vineyards could consider carbon sequestration as an antidote to global warming. Regenerative practices such as agroforestry, cover cropping, legume cover cropping, animal integration, non-chemical fertilizer, non-chemical pest management and no tillage lead to increased carbon sequestration. This means the carbon is stored into the soal and not into the atmosphere.
Climate change is and will have a substantial impact on Moldova's vital grape and wine production industry, which is responsible for a significant portion of income and livelihoods, contributing around 20% of GDP, with 10% of the population involved directly or indirectly.
“Grape-growing patterns are shifting due to rising temperatures and warmer winters affecting vine dormancy and frost resistance, while hotter growing seasons alter the balance of sugars and acids critical to wine quality.”Pavel Juruš, Big Terra Founder and CEO
“Whilst multiple peer-reviewed studies predict a semblance of stability in grape growing regions until 2050, they also point to this being dynamic, implying adaptation such as change of grape varieties, selection or modification of cultivation technology could be necessary even in those regions which remains suitable in the future,” he adds.
Therefore, the Re.Wine platform comes to enhancing the quality of data available to the viticulture value chain in terms of actionable climate and environmental intelligence, thus enhancing resilience against climate impacts.
The platform includes key periodical weather events that are essential for ecological adaptability of grape varieties, crop management and crop modelling. Also, essential data are available on the quality of carbon sequestration in a given vineyard, such as start, peak, and end of season, vegetation state at those times, minimum value (relevant to health of vines and characterization of the year), and also rates of ripening and natural degradation, considering loss of texture, flavour, etc.
Re.wine platform building on the established Carbognostic regenerative agriculture and carbon soil sequestration monitoring, reporting and verification platform. Users can see individual crop fields and pastures and quickly verify if the practices monitored with the aid of satellite data are in alignment with carbon sequestering practices. At the same time, winemakers and interested stakeholders can also go more in-depth and check the time evolution of the fields, various types of reports and miscellaneous tools - e.g. satellite targeted soil sampling for complementary on-site verification.
“For boutique winemakers such as ourselves, Re.Wine heralds a new age of readily accessible innovative agricultural data gathering, analysis and dissemination. It enables us to back up our claims of being organic producers, not just via random spot checks, but literally in real time. I can imagine the data this generated being used in sales and marketing collateral down through the grape and wine value chain all the way to the end consumer,” notes Nicolae Tronciu, founder of Crama Tronciu, one of the wineries piloting the platform, along with Gogu, Unicorn Estate and Crama Domnească.
“The service is supported by a business model for farmers that can offset investments in regenerative agriculture through carbon offsetting programs. This enables grape grower and wine makers to better practise long-term sustainable agribusiness,” says Pavel Juruš, Big Terra Founder and CEO.
“This pilot has fulfilled its primary goal of delivering the starting point for a fully regenerative viticulture platform that will be scalable to all vineyards across Moldova. Furthermore, Re.Wine can support those farmers aiming for viticulture that is sustainable both environmentally and economically. A bonus is that we expect it to be attractive to all relevant stakeholders and partners, not only farmers, including winemakers, wine sellers and other participants in the value chain,” concludes Constantin Ojog, ACSA Head.
On the long run, investment into regenerative practices can lead to higher yields and grapes of higher quality. More, regenerative viticulture can encourage consumers to opt for products and brands that align with their values of authenticity and sustainability.
