Client: Water Footprint Implementation
EJWP1: September – December 2019
Participants: Ioana Dobrescu, Marth Gjermo and Rosa Esposito
Project Description
The European wine sector is relatively sustainable from a water perspective as irrigation is a scarce practice but with a changging climate the sector is seeing increased draught events, heavy rainfall and new pests. What will these changes mean for wine production and how can Water Footprint help manage the upcoming water challenges?
The project aims to assess the awareness about water consumption and water management practices among wine producers, from grape growth to bottling of wine.
Approach
The project activities consisted of literature review on the Water Footprint of wine and a questionnaire administered to biological wine producers from Germany, Italy and France, based on a selection from project partner Artisan Wines, a Dutch sustainable wines trader.
Results
Though difficult to obtain responses to the questionnaire due to language barriers and time restrictions ,the main conclusion was that water is not a focus for wine producers even though they do experience loss of production due to draught and insufficient water management practices. There is a need for raising awareness on the benefits of efficient water management in wine production.
Follow-up
The project partners, Water Footprint Iplementation and Artisan Wines have expressed interest in continuing this preliminary research with a more structured and broader research provided financing is secured.
