What is integrated viticulture?

Integrated vit iculture - also called near-natural or environmentally friendly viticulture - brings together economic, ecological and toxicological aspects in order to prevent disease and/or pest infestation of the vine through targeted measures or to keep it below the so-called damage threshold. In this respect, integrated viticulture takes into account the protection of resources and the environment as well as human health and can be understood as a preliminary stage to organic viticulture. In this context - in Germany - apart from the EU wine market regulation and its supplementary regulations, the wine law and the wine regulation as well as the guidelines of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), the corresponding regulations of the plant protection lawapply.

In practice, integrated viticulture avoids the use of chemical plant protection products as far as possible, but instead, according to the Plant Protection Act, uses a "combination of methods [...] giving priority to biological, biotechnical, plant-breeding and cultivation and culture-technical measures". This begins with the selection of the site and the seed and planting material (for example, fungus-resistant grape varieties), includes proper soil cultivation as well as balanced fertilisation, and extends to biodiversity and the establishment of beneficial insects in the vineyard.

This form of viticulture is called "integrated" because plant protection is, to a certain extent, integrated into the ecosystem of the vineyard. In English, integrated viticulture is called "sustainable agriculture" (and thus understood as part of sustainability ), in French, "lutte raisonnée" (which translates as "thoughtful combat")