LIFE VinoShield presentation

Summary

The VINOSHIELD project tackles the climate-related challenges faced by European vineyards, such as spring frosts, hail, excessive sun, and heavy rain, which affect both yield and wine quality. The project will demonstrate the efficiency of the multifunctional textile protective nets against these issues.

With a €4.1M budget over four years (2024-2028), VINOSHIELD involves seven partners from Belgium, France, Italy and Spain, specializing in viticulture, textile production, physics of heat transport phenomena, and biobased materials.

The nets will be tested across nine vineyards, with the goal of protecting 16,500 hectares by 2032, reducing crop damage from 30% to 5%, and benefiting 2,750 winegrowers across Europe. The project also aims to ensure the nets’ market adoption and their recycling at the end of life.

Issues and suggested solutions

Climate change poses significant challenges to European wine growing, a sector that covers 2% of the continent’s agricultural land and generates €23.1 billion annually in France, Italy, and Spain alone.

Rising temperatures, drought, heavy rain, hailstorms, and spring frosts are intensifying, disrupting the delicate balance of terroirs and climates that define wine quality. These conditions are exacerbating the vulnerability of vineyards, leading to reduced yields, vine burns, and increased mortality. Long-term effects include a decline in grape quality and taste, rising treatment costs due to increased diseases, and geographical shifts in vine-growing regions.

Consequently, wines are experiencing higher alcohol levels, diminished aromatic complexity, and a reduction in acidity, altering their signature profiles. This combination of environmental and economic pressures underscores the urgency of addressing climate change’s impact on one of Europe’s most iconic agricultural industries.

The VinoShield project proposes an innovative solution to address the challenges posed by climate change and support the adaptation of the wine industry. It centres around the use of warp-knitting nets combined with dedicated fixation elements.

Four specialised nets have been developed, each targeting a specific climatic hazard—hail, shading, fungal diseases, and frost—while offering relative efficiency against other risks. These nets require no energy, chemicals, gas, or water during use and maintain air exchange, particularly with shading nets.

HAIL + shading, fungal disease

SHADING + hail, fungal disease

FUNGAL DISEASE + hail, shading, frost

FROST + hail, rain

Their adaptability is further enhanced by adjustable shading rates and unique functionalisation with plastic strips and non-woven materials, including a unique net specifically designed to combat fungal diseases caused by rain. The solution is being demonstrated through tests on vines across several European regions, aiming to improve protective nets and ensure sustainable viticulture practices. The aim is also to assess the impact of the solution on winemaking.

Objectives

The ambition of the LIFE VINOSHIELD project is to improve the European wine sector’s adaptation to climate change thanks to innovative protective nets.

To reach the LIFE VINOSHIELD’s ambition, 8 major objectives are set and will be reached during the hole project duration:

1. Demonstrate and validate the performance of the protective nets against climate hazards on vine and wine, over 9 vineyards in 8 regions and test on several seasons
2. Facilitate the use of the protective nets for vineyards and producers thanks to the new handling system
3. Demonstrate the positive environmental and socio-economic impacts of the protective nets and of their use over the experimental areas

4. Raise awareness of winegrowers, policy-makers and the general public on the consequences of climate hazards on wine growing
5. Promote the benefits of our protective nets for climate change adaptation to winegrowers and policy-makers
6. Define the environmental-friendly business model for the commercial exploitation of the protective nets
7. Support European winegrowers in adapting their practices to the best use of the protective nets
8. Secure the value chain, from raw materials supply to end-of-life protective nets

Some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

The LIFE VINOSHIELD project envisions substantial impacts through its implementation. By equipping 830 winegrowers with 4,400,000 metres of innovative protective nets, the initiative aims to significantly reduce climate-related damage to vineyards, lowering losses from hail, excessive sun, and rain from 30% to just 5%. It also targets environmental benefits, including a reduction in phytosanitary treatments from three to two and a 20% decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Economically, the project expects a 24% increase in gains for winegrowers and the creation of 9 full-time-equivalent jobs. These results will be validated through 51 comprehensive case studies, ensuring a robust evaluation of the solution’s effectiveness.