The pandemic halted important activities such as direct contact with Member countries at their working environment. The evolution of the sanitary conditions brings new signs of optimism, allowing the return of physical meetings, even if under strict conditions.

The official visit of the Director General of the OIV, Pau Roca, to Portugal last week is proof of this. It represents the kick-off for future visits to different countries, aiming to strengthen the important contact with its 48 Member Countries.

Portugal: a founding member of the OIV since 1924

During the two days spent in Portugal, Pau Roca participated in several activities with different representatives of the sector. On 5 May, accompanied by the President of the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho (IVV), Bernardo Gouvêa, the OIV Director was received by the Portuguese Minister for Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes. A meeting where the strong cooperation and dynamism of the country with the OIV were highlighted.

The following day, ACIBEV: Associação de Vinhos e Espirituosas de Portugal (Association of Wines and Spirits of Portugal), organised a hybrid conference in which the Director General spoke about the State of the Vitivinicultural World in 2020. A presentation followed by session of questions & answers with the participation of personalities from the Portuguese wine sector. In the conference opening speech, ACIBEV’s President Jorge Monteiro welcomed the OIV Director, thanking him for his presence and contribution to the sector. Considerations shared by Bernardo Gouvêa, who showed his high appreciation of the work developed by the OIV and its close relation with Portugal, when closing the conference.

To top the agenda, on the same day Pau Roca had the opportunity to visit the Experimental Centre for the Conservation of the Variability of Autochthonous Grapevines, managed by the Portuguese Association for Grapevine Diversity (PORVID*) under a partnership protocol signed with the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture.

Portuguese research reflected in OIV resolutions

This centre, managed by PORVID, is a pioneer infrastructure dedicated to the integral conservation of grapevine varieties’ diversity (intravarietal diversity) aiming to add value, adaptability and sustainability to vitiviniculture. Ten years after its foundation, over 30 000 genotypes are already conserved with the final aim being to secure 50 000 of all 250 varieties native of Portugal.

This living genetic bank materialises innovation from knowledge through the provision of polyclonal selections for both grape growers and winemakers, a novel methodology created in Portugal and, since 2019, recognised by the OIV through a resolution unanimously adopted by all its Member Countries. This recognition made the methodology globally accessible, opening the path for global conservation of the original diversity of ancient grapevine varieties in vineyards across the world. See resolution OIV-VITI 564B-2019

A result of the work developed by the centre could be appreciated at the end of the visit with a tasting of wines experimentally made from little known Portuguese varieties. The tasting was guided by António Graça, OIV’s ENVIRO’s expert group Secretary who represents Sogrape at PORVID. Sercialinho, Tinta Francisca or Touriga Fêmea were among the tasted wines, varieties that according to Graça “could be extinct nowadays if this conservation work had not been started 40 years ago”.

Pau Roca thanked the visit and the presentation of the project, stating that "in this type of approach for the conservation of biodiversity and understanding of nature lies the future of world vitiviniculture".

The OIV Director General concluded by congratulating those responsible for the results already visible and for involving the OIV in its worldwide dissemination.

*About Porvid
PORVID is a non-profit association created in 2009 with the objective of conserving and adding value from the genetic diversity and wild populations of grapevines. In 2010, the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture signed a protocol with PORVID for the creation of the Experimental Centre for the Conservation of Variability of Autochthonous Grapevines, placing it under its management for a period of 50 years. Integrated by a municipality, public institutes, universities, technical associations, private companies and independent entrepreneurs, PORVID surveys and collects extinction-threatened grapevines from old vineyards, giving priority for those marked for plucking-off and conserves them in collections of each variety’s diversity that eventually become objects of study. The knowledge generated by these studies becomes the basis for polyclonal selections allowing growers to plant vineyards that synergize economic efficiency with resilience and sustainability. Having published a relevant corpus of scientific papers, PORVID also supports diversity conservation efforts beyond Portuguese borders.

Water resources, at global, regional and local levels are now recognised to be under severe pressure. Sustainable use of water has now become a societal, environmental, industry and business imperative across the globe, and a core policy for many governments, industries and commercial entities. Increasingly, social licence shall be dependent on the sound environmental credentials of all players in the supply chain, with sustainable water use as a leading theme.

Many vineyard areas in more recently developed, semi-arid or arid regions have annual rainfall which cannot reliably support modern viticultural systems. Meanwhile, in other long-established systems, rainfall quantity and reliability has become inadequate or unreliable, making it difficult to meet supply chain demands for quality and supply assurance.

Production systems have been further differentiated and adapted in the light of local conditions and resource availability (including water), informed by experience and relevant R&D, and according to the requirements of continually evolving markets.

In this sense, the “Sustainable Use of Water in Winegrape Vineyards” document is intended to outline key, universally relevant principles specific to the activity of growing Winegrape vineyards, bearing in mind that variability in regional resource and environmental considerations, site characteristics and enterprise circumstances may be substantial, so requiring adaptation in practice to individual circumstances.

The document has been drafted by the Viticulture Commission’s “Vine Protection and Viticultural Techniques” (PROTEC) Group and revised by other OIV Commissions.* OIV Scientific and Technical Committee chart

This document is freely available here [EN]

Another step towards sustainability

The OIV adopted in 2018 the resolution OIV-VITI 569-2018 “OIV protocol for the sustainable use of water in viticulture” whose main objective is to define good water management practices based on principles of sustainability established in the OIV-CST 518-2016 resolution “OIV general principles of sustainable vitiviniculture - environmental - social - economic and cultural aspects”.

The OIV, aware that this resolution should be accompanied by a document that spelled out certain technical and scientific aspects, decided to create a document of collective expertise within the PROTEC Group, with the objective that this document could be a tool for reference and guidance for the sector regarding the sustainable use of water. Furthermore, this document seeks to respond to the objectives of the OIV’s Strategic Plan for the period 2020-2024, particularly axis 1 “Promote environmentally-friendly vitiviniculture” through points B and C: “Improvement of environmental performance” and “Preservation of natural resources”.

*OIV collective expertise documents are not submitted to the Step Procedure for Examining Resolutions and can under no circumstances be treated as OIV resolutions. Only resolutions adopted by the Member States of the OIV have an official character

Vine sciences will be at the forefront of the global vitivinicultural stage on 6-10 September 2021 in Alcala de Henares, Madrid (Spain), with the celebrated return of the OIV International Course in Ampelography.

On 6-10 September 2021, the "El Encín" collection of vine varieties will host nationally and internationally renowned professors for 5 days of theoretical and practical in-person classes designed to allow participants to exchange, update and/or deepen their knowledge about ampelography. The practical approach will make it possible to clearly and precisely identify vine varieties in the field, pointing to all the key characteristics to recognise these.

Places are limited and course registration is open until 31 July 2021! To register, send an email to oivampelography@oiv.int.

Complete information and detailed programme here

On World Food Safety Day, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) aims to draw attention to the actions of its 48 Member States as well as to promote the vitivinicultural sector as a driver of good practice and the sustainable food system.

Science plays an important role in food safety. As the scientific and technical reference for the world of wine and vine, the OIV is working with other intergovernmental organisations on this year's theme: “Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow”.

Consumers at the centre of the OIV's attention

Food safety requires all actors in the food chain to play their part in managing high food standards. The main objective is to provide answers to the expectations and concerns of consumers.

Within this framework, the OIV develops production standards, techniques and analysis methods to guarantee the identity and authenticity of vitivinicultural products.

One of the core missions of the OIV is to contribute to the protection of consumer health and the safety of the products. The "Security and Health" commission, with its "Food Safety" group of experts, is responsible for this. This expert group develops safety assessments and advice on wine treatments, processes and practices, as well as on the identification of risks for workers and consumers. Currently, the group is releasing several scientific reports on the safety assessment of various elements in wine such as aluminium, cadmium and zinc. Three OIV expertise documents on the assessment of lead, sulphites and arsenic respectively have been published.

Consult files here [EN]
Lead in Wine: a review
SO2 and wine: a review
Arsenic and wine: a review

Related news
Consensus between the OIV and the Codex on the proposed limits on lead
OIV-Codex Alimentarius cooperation on emerging issues

The need for international cooperation

To ensure food safety, international cooperation is necessary. The OIV closely collaborates with other intergovernmental bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius, the FAO and the WHO. Each of them brings its own specialisation to achieve a global vision of food safety.

A recent example is the adoption of the same lead limits for wines and fortified wines/liqueurs between the OIV and Codex Alimentarius on proposals to ensure consistency in standards and international trade. It is fortunate that Codex can rely on the OIV as a technical and scientific intergovernmental organisation of reference in the wine sector.

Mutualisation of information on food safety and interdisciplinary collaboration are two pillars to achieve a more resilient and sustainable agri-food system. More information on the FAO/OIV collaboration here.

A commitment with sustainability

The OIV's role in healthy and sustainable food is twofold: it relies on the United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and on the principle of sustainability.

The Strategic Plan 2020-2024 and its strategic objectives have been guided by the different issues the international vitivinicultural sector has to face up to, but also by a desire to integrate, into the work of the Organisation, the 2030 outlook of the United Nations SDGs. The OIV is committed to 13 out of 17 of the SDGs, and is supporting its members in their implementation in areas relevant to its mandate of financial stability and sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Food Safety is crucial to enhance the sustainability of food systems and eradicate hunger and malnutrition in line with SDGs.

Alongside, the OIV undergone a long work of consensus to reach a definition of sustainability (2004) and Guidelines for the implementation of principles of sustainable vitiviniculture (2020). The OIV believes that all collective organisation of the vitivinicultural sector should facilitate the dissemination of a holistic management culture and stimulate the development of local networks committed to sustainability Objectives.

All these science based tools are meant to develop innovative, holistic and feasible “food chain” solutions.

For more information please contact: Barbara Iasiello, OIV Safety & Health Head of Unit, sanco@oiv.int.