400,000 ha of mildew-free vines with no synthetic pesticides?

he new Vitiguard project promises innovations that will expedite the transition to agro-ecology in vineyards. “Our aim is to boost vines’ immunity so that they can be successfully grown with no synthetic plant protection products”, announced Denis David, deputy managing director of Cérience, the company behind the project.

The first phase involves bolstering the effectiveness of two plant resistance inducers (PRI) to combat powdery and downy mildew that are already marketed by Cérience. “The products are Messager, based on Cos-Oga, and Belvine, whose active ingredient is ABE-IT 56, which we are going to combine with other commercially available biological control products and biological stimulants. We are currently selecting these by drawing on the complementarity of effect mechanisms”, explained David.

The product combinations will be trialled starting with the 2026 growing season in vineyards in the Loire Valley, Champagne, Bordeaux, South-West and Languedoc. For the first time, the project will also characterise the genetic response to PRIs by vines. In 2028 and 2029, the combination of all these levers will be assessed in real-life conditions in new vineyards planted this year by three vine growers.