Water and Drought Management Take Centre Stage as Leading Czech Wine Producers Meet

Key facts:

• Leading Czech wine producers – BOHEMIA SEKT, Lahofer, Zámecké vinařství Bzenec, Château Valtice – Vinné sklepy Valtice and Slovakia's Château Topoľčianky – met for the third time under the DoVinic.cz platform to discuss irrigation, climate change and water management.
• Research shows that a 2 °C temperature rise in the Czech Republic means a loss of roughly 100 mm of water per year through evaporation.
• These Czech participants together cultivate almost one fifth of all productive vineyards in the Czech Republic.

South Moravia, 10 February – Water and the fight against drought are among the most pressing challenges facing today's wine industry. They became the central theme of a professional meeting held as part of the DoVinic.cz project, which brought together leading wine companies and the largest grape growers for the third time.

Representatives of BOHEMIA SEKT, Lahofer, Zámecké vinařství Bzenec, Château Valtice – Vinné sklepy Valtice and Château Topoľčianky discussed the future of winegrowing, focusing on irrigation, climate change and water management in the landscape.

"As a result of climate change, weather variability in the Czech Republic is increasing and extremes are intensifying. We have reached a point where it is no longer possible to grow grapevines efficiently on a larger scale over the long term without losses. Developments in recent years confirm that irrigation is not a supplementary measure but one of the most effective tools for maintaining grape quality and yield – and with it the competitiveness of Czech winemakers on both the domestic and international markets," says Petr Ptáček, Viticulture Manager of the BOHEMIA SEKT Group.

The part of the programme devoted to water in the landscape was led by Václav Rára of the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Participants discussed how to retain water in the landscape effectively and how to respond to weather fluctuations caused by climate change. This session also opened a discussion on the latest findings presented at the Intersucho (InterDrought) conference.

"Current data from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, the InterSucho project and other research show that annual precipitation totals in the Czech Republic have not changed significantly over the long term. What is changing, however, is their distribution throughout the year. At the same time, rising temperatures increase the atmosphere's demand for water, leading to higher evaporation – so the landscape loses more water even when rainfall remains the same. Under Czech conditions, a temperature increase of 2 °C translates into a loss of roughly 100 mm of water per year due to higher evaporation. From this perspective, an irrigation system connected to a stable water source with sufficient capacity is an effective adaptation measure in areas with a strained water balance," explained Václav Rára.

Irrigation Innovation: Czech Winemakers Look to Israel for Inspiration
The next part of the meeting focused on innovation in irrigation. Last year, BOHEMIA SEKT launched a multi-year trial in Moravia testing the use of irrigation for so-called regulated deficit irrigation under Czech conditions – an approach based on irrigation practices used in the Judean Hills in Israel and the Barossa Valley in Australia.

"We applied the Israeli methodology and simulated the conditions of Valdobbiadene, the Italian region where Prosecco is produced. We adapted these practices to Czech grape varieties and monitored how to manage water optimally so that vineyards can better cope with weather fluctuations while increasing production efficiency," says Petr Ptáček, describing the ongoing trial.

Drought in the Czech Republic Continues
The trend of recent years confirms that drought is an increasingly serious problem, and its impact will only grow with climate change. Last year saw below-average precipitation, and the beginning of this year has so far shown no signs of significant improvement. The meeting made clear that adapting to drought is not a matter for individual wineries but for the entire system – from the landscape through research to national policy. Water is not merely an operating cost; it is a strategic factor that will determine the future of the wine industry.

"The debate is no longer about whether to irrigate, but about how to use water in irrigation as efficiently as possible and how to keep it in the vineyard for as long as possible," said Bořek Svoboda, Director of Zámecké vinařství Bzenec.

Participants agreed on the need for systematic sharing of data and experience in irrigation and water management. Only through joint effort can solutions be found that will help both the Czech landscape and the wine industry face the challenges of climate change. The Czech participants of the meeting – BOHEMIA SEKT, Lahofer, Zámecké vinařství Bzenec and Château Valtice – Vinné sklepy Valtice – together cultivate almost one fifth of all productive vineyards in the Czech Republic.