Oral or Poster presentation at the 20th GiESCO International Meeting Mendoza 2017 (5-10 November)

Abstract

The 20th GiESCO meeting was dedicated to sustainable viticulture in a climate change scenario. It was held in Mendoza (Argentina) from 5-10 November 2017. A total of 60 oral papers and more than 130 posters were presented during the conference around diverse topics such as climate change, sustainability, breeding, vine physiology and vineyard management. Several strategies to adapt to climate change were presented during this conference and in particular, how to adapt to rising temperatures. Viticultural practices such as shading, irrigation and hydrocooling are already being used, but these may be difficult to afford or justify on a large scale as the consequences of climate change on the world’s warmer and hot climate regions become more pronounced. In the medium-term, adaptation of canopy and floor management practices may help to offset the effects of climate change on both vineyard water balance and temperature. However, changing the growing area and moving vineyards to higher altitudes or cooler latitudes, as well as identifying thermo-tolerant varieties and breeding new ones may be the type of approaches needed for long-term industry adaptation.

Summary

The travel bursary awarded by Wine Australia to Julia Gouot was used to fund travel to attend the 2017 GiESCO conference. The 20th GiESCO meeting was held in Mendoza (Argentina), 5-10 November 2017, and was dedicated to sustainable viticulture and winemaking in a climate change scenario. A total of 60 oral papers and more than 130 posters were presented during the conference around diverse topics such as climate change, sustainability, breeding, vine physiology and vineyard management. ‘Vineyard management and mechanisation’ was the largest session with 16 orals and 45 posters, followed by ‘climate change, sustainability and zoning’ and ‘vine physiology’, each with 13 orals, and 26 and 27 posters, respectively. The ‘breeding, varieties, clones and rootstocks’ session comprised 7 orals and 6 posters, while other sessions such as ‘plant protection’, ‘socioeconomics’ and ‘oenology’ only contained posters. The professional day focused on ‘precision viticulture, modelling and new technologies’ as well as ‘vineyard management and mechanisation’. The use of new technologies such as robots and phone applications, is greatly expanding and presentations focused on early yield predictions.

Julia Gouot presented her preliminary PhD results in an oral presentation on the effect of extreme high temperature on bunch stem and berry physiology, on which she received valuable feedback. The conference allowed her to expand her knowledge and network in viticulture research by meeting and exchanging with viticulture researchers who have many years of experience in this field. She came back with new experimental ideas and learnt about low-cost tools which could be used for her experiments.

To report to the Australian grape and wine industry about the conference, an article summarising highlights of the GiESCO meeting will be submitted to the Wine and Viticulture Journal (see manuscripts in preparation attached).