Underlying environmental factors of Berry Shrivel

Berry Shrivel (BS) is a disorder of grape berry ripening resulting in berries with low sugar content, that can not be used for wine making. The causes of BS are currently unknown. The Austrian red wine variety Blauer Zweigelt is severely affected by BS and annual fluctuations in occurrence lead to a high risk of yield losses. Effective prevention methods are unknown or insufficiently tested. The aim of GeomaBS is to identify the environmental factors that are responsible for the annual fluctuations in the occurrence of berry shrivel. These risk factors are to be projected to a spatial and temporal scale in a wine-growing region and linked and supplemented with local information from individual vineyards. On this basis, a database on the occurrence of berry shrivel is to be created with the aim of being able to estimate or forecast in future whether and to what extent yield losses are to be expected. In addition, we will analyse the efficiency of current prevention strategies and additionally test whether a certain proportion of affected grapes can be used for winemaking without affecting the quality of the wine. With this new approach, the multidisciplinary project team of plant physiologists, geologists, soil scientists, meteorologists and wine analysts will make a decisive contribution to identify the possible environmental causes for the development of grape wilt.