The GREASE project to unravel how soil and canopy management can mitigate climate change effects on Greco grapevine

The pedo-climatic conditions can determine the grape varieties that can be cultivated as well as have deep influence on wine quality. Climate change has already caused significant warming and drought in most grape-growing areas of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean area where viticulture is suffering yield and grape quality reductions due to the increased frequency and duration of drought periods. Ongoing climate change is aggravating some critical issues in the production of the autochthonous grape variety'Greco'(Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera), widely cultivated in the Campania Region (southern Italy) and used alone or blend in many quality label wines. Nowadays, there is a high risk for the economic sustainability of Greco cultivation due to the following main issues: reduced vine productivity, low selling price of grapes, and territory fragmentation. Such criticisms induce the abandonment of small/medium-sized farms due to either crop conversion or consolidation into larger farms....