Living Vineyards AI: Agroforestry Intelligence for Sustainable Viticulture
Summary
The solution proposed arises within The Living Vineyards (LV), an innovative framework and Collaborative Network spanning 14 countries and 40 wine companies. It is designed to support wine producers like Arrighi Winery in integrating vineyards with surrounding ecosystems.
Living Vineyards AI:
• First vineyard agroforestry tool combining AI + Excel for field-accessible ecological management
• Predicts biodiversity and ecosystem services for vineyard-forest systems
• Aligned with OIV Agroecology, EU CSRD, and Farm-to-Fork Strategy
• Designed for replication across Mediterranean wine regions through the Porto Protocol global network
Living Vineyards AI expands the impact of the internationally recognized Living Vineyards initiative, and was developed with scientific, technical, and practical inputs that result from the knowledge and everyday experiences of the LV network members. It is delivering an AI-enhanced, Excel-based tool designed to monitor, evaluate, and optimize agroforestry practices in vineyard settings. This solution directly responds to the CO2 PACMAN challenge by enabling climate-resilient vineyard-forest alternation through adaptive, data-driven management.
Developed through the collaboration of the Porto Protocol and Natural Business Intelligence (NBI), the tool empowers vineyard managers to improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water regulation, ecosystem integrity and soil health. It translates agroecological complexity into actionable strategies aligned with the OIV Agroecology Framework, the EU Farm-to-Fork Strategy, and corporate sustainability reporting standards (CSRD).
This 12-month demo project will be piloted at Arrighi Winery on Elba Island and designed for replication across Mediterranean wine regions.
Living Vineyards AI:
• First vineyard agroforestry tool combining AI + Excel for field-accessible ecological management
• Predicts biodiversity and ecosystem services for vineyard-forest systems
• Aligned with OIV Agroecology, EU CSRD, and Farm-to-Fork Strategy
• Designed for replication across Mediterranean wine regions through the Porto Protocol global network
Living Vineyards AI expands the impact of the internationally recognized Living Vineyards initiative, and was developed with scientific, technical, and practical inputs that result from the knowledge and everyday experiences of the LV network members. It is delivering an AI-enhanced, Excel-based tool designed to monitor, evaluate, and optimize agroforestry practices in vineyard settings. This solution directly responds to the CO2 PACMAN challenge by enabling climate-resilient vineyard-forest alternation through adaptive, data-driven management.
Developed through the collaboration of the Porto Protocol and Natural Business Intelligence (NBI), the tool empowers vineyard managers to improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water regulation, ecosystem integrity and soil health. It translates agroecological complexity into actionable strategies aligned with the OIV Agroecology Framework, the EU Farm-to-Fork Strategy, and corporate sustainability reporting standards (CSRD).
This 12-month demo project will be piloted at Arrighi Winery on Elba Island and designed for replication across Mediterranean wine regions.
Foreseen impact
The Living Vineyards Tool has been designed to deliver high-impact outcomes at both local and global scale, addressing the urgent challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation in viticulture.
Furthermore, its originating group is highly representative of the world of wine, including companies of different sizes, practices, and a diversity of regions and climates.
Its foreseen impacts include:
• Agroforestry Integration: Enables evidence-based design and management of vineyard-forest alternation systems.
• Climate & Biodiversity Co-Benefits: Supports multifunctional landscapes and the resilience of wine production to climate risks.
• Transferability: Designed for modular deployment in other Mediterranean terroirs and viticulture clusters.
• Reporting Compliance: Supports implementation of the OIV Agroecology Guidelines, CSRD, EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities, and Farm-to-Fork objectives.
• Stakeholder Empowerment: Increases technical autonomy of producers via an accessible, low-barrier digital tool.
• Open Access Commitment: Following testing, the tool will be made available as a beta version with a deployment guide and indicator manual.
• Enabling Collaboration and Scaling: As part of a 14-country network, users can share knowledge and adapt solutions across regions contributing to scalable Innovation as a shared digital platform for learning and adaptation across 14 countries
In short, the tool helps embed agroecological and agroforestry-based approaches into vineyard management—boosting environmental health, productivity, and cultural value. This tool will enable winegrowers not only to report impact, but to plan for it.
Furthermore, its originating group is highly representative of the world of wine, including companies of different sizes, practices, and a diversity of regions and climates.
Its foreseen impacts include:
• Agroforestry Integration: Enables evidence-based design and management of vineyard-forest alternation systems.
• Climate & Biodiversity Co-Benefits: Supports multifunctional landscapes and the resilience of wine production to climate risks.
• Transferability: Designed for modular deployment in other Mediterranean terroirs and viticulture clusters.
• Reporting Compliance: Supports implementation of the OIV Agroecology Guidelines, CSRD, EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities, and Farm-to-Fork objectives.
• Stakeholder Empowerment: Increases technical autonomy of producers via an accessible, low-barrier digital tool.
• Open Access Commitment: Following testing, the tool will be made available as a beta version with a deployment guide and indicator manual.
• Enabling Collaboration and Scaling: As part of a 14-country network, users can share knowledge and adapt solutions across regions contributing to scalable Innovation as a shared digital platform for learning and adaptation across 14 countries
In short, the tool helps embed agroecological and agroforestry-based approaches into vineyard management—boosting environmental health, productivity, and cultural value. This tool will enable winegrowers not only to report impact, but to plan for it.
About the solver
About the Porto Protocol:
The Porto Protocol Foundation is the biggest global wine community, sharing knowledge and solution to bringing climate action to life. It brings together more than 250 members as a community of wine producers, researchers and stakeholders of the value chain, to exchange concrete actions to face the challenges of Climate change. It operates in more than 20 countries, representing 1.2 billions of litres of wine and +75K hectares of vineyards.
Core activities include:
• Solutions Explorer – A curated library of real-world sustainable viticulture case studies and innovations
• Living Vineyards – A flagship project promoting ecosystem restoration in vineyards globally
• Climate Talks & Webinars – Continuous engagement with the wine industry on climate resilience, biodiversity, packaging, and regenerative practices
• Collaborative Pilot Projects – Regional multi-actor partnerships and experimental demonstrators in different terroirs
With deep connections with the all the wine value chain, academia, and wine sector clusters, Porto Protocol ensures effective dissemination, adoption, and impact of scalable solutions like the Living Vineyards AI tool.
Natural Business Intelligence (NBI) is a Portugal-based consultancy at the forefront of the natural economy. With a strong applied track record in vineyards and agroforestry systems, NBI bridges ecology, business intelligence, and digital tools to help landowners, investors, and wine producers transition to regenerative models.
Relevant core competencies:
• Ecological due diligence and biodiversity baselining for large estates and wine groups
• Tool design and AI integration for ecosystem service measurement and ESG tracking
• Experience with sector leaders such as Esporão, SOGRAPE, and GranVinhos. Inter alia, applying science-based indicators for soil, water, and biodiversity enhancement
• Alignment with CSRD, EU Taxonomy, and OIV frameworks, offering integrated compliance-ready advisory
NBI’s ecological and digital intelligence is the foundation for the Living Vineyards AI tool, offering an operational, science-based, and replicable model for nature-positive wine systems.
About the consortium:
The Leading team of Living vineyards:
- EMMANUEL BOURGUIGNON, soil specialist – The Porto Protocol
- TOM CRONGHAN - https://www.portoprotocol.com/people/tom-croghan/
- COLLABORATIVE NETWORK:
Current group
• CANADA
o Mark Anthony Group
o Unsworth Vineyards
o Saunders Family Farm & Vine
• USA
o Abacela Vineyards and Winery
o Chamisal Vineyards
o Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard
o Honig Vineyard and Winery
o Jackson Family Wines
o The Vineyards at Dodon
o Medlock Ames
o Paicines Ranch Vineyard
o Snowden Vineyards
• ARGENTINA
o Alpamanta
o Catena Zapata
• CHILE
o Emiliana Organic Vineyards
• SOUTH AFRICA
o Paul Clüver Family Wines
o Black Oyster Catcher wines
• FRANCE
o Château du Petit Thouars
o Chateau Feely
o Solaenat
• GERMANY
o Staffelter Hof
• SPAIN
o Raimat
o Gonzalez Byass
• PORTUGAL
o Taylor’s
o Monte do Trevo
o Quinta Campos de Lima
o Rui Lucas
• ITALY
o Kaikna Podere Evolutivo
o Fattoria La Maliosa
o San Polino
o Salcheto
o Le Carezze
o Vini Raggera
• AUSTRIA
o Weingut Braunstein
• ARMENIA
o AreniOne LLC
• SERBIA
o Salas Gnezdo d.o.o
• AUSTRALIA
o Norfolk Rise Vineyard
• NEW ZEALAND
o Coal Pit Winery
Other References (work on the topic):
Agroforestry in Vineyards: Alain Canet, Caro Feely, Juliette Combe and Ted Lemon:
https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/agroforestry-in-vineyards/
Agroforestry in Vineyards_2nd Edition: Emmanuel Bourguignon; Katia Nussbaum; Olga Barbosa, Anne Jones: https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/agroforestry-in-vineyards-2-3/
Vineyards Ecosystems: Emmanuel Bourguignon, Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira, Tom Croghan and Cristina Crava: https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/vineyards-ecosystems-emmannuel-bourguignon-nuno-gaspar-de-oliveira-tom-croghan-and-cristina-crava/
Previous workshops – Living Vineyard
Workshop 1: https://youtu.be/Xsx2-syN1sc
Workshop 2: https://youtu.be/42FsujpKWh4
Workshop 3: https://youtu.be/Fjf0fkA3PuQ
Workshop 4: https://youtu.be/rDjpWaBuGWw
The Porto Protocol Foundation is the biggest global wine community, sharing knowledge and solution to bringing climate action to life. It brings together more than 250 members as a community of wine producers, researchers and stakeholders of the value chain, to exchange concrete actions to face the challenges of Climate change. It operates in more than 20 countries, representing 1.2 billions of litres of wine and +75K hectares of vineyards.
Core activities include:
• Solutions Explorer – A curated library of real-world sustainable viticulture case studies and innovations
• Living Vineyards – A flagship project promoting ecosystem restoration in vineyards globally
• Climate Talks & Webinars – Continuous engagement with the wine industry on climate resilience, biodiversity, packaging, and regenerative practices
• Collaborative Pilot Projects – Regional multi-actor partnerships and experimental demonstrators in different terroirs
With deep connections with the all the wine value chain, academia, and wine sector clusters, Porto Protocol ensures effective dissemination, adoption, and impact of scalable solutions like the Living Vineyards AI tool.
Natural Business Intelligence (NBI) is a Portugal-based consultancy at the forefront of the natural economy. With a strong applied track record in vineyards and agroforestry systems, NBI bridges ecology, business intelligence, and digital tools to help landowners, investors, and wine producers transition to regenerative models.
Relevant core competencies:
• Ecological due diligence and biodiversity baselining for large estates and wine groups
• Tool design and AI integration for ecosystem service measurement and ESG tracking
• Experience with sector leaders such as Esporão, SOGRAPE, and GranVinhos. Inter alia, applying science-based indicators for soil, water, and biodiversity enhancement
• Alignment with CSRD, EU Taxonomy, and OIV frameworks, offering integrated compliance-ready advisory
NBI’s ecological and digital intelligence is the foundation for the Living Vineyards AI tool, offering an operational, science-based, and replicable model for nature-positive wine systems.
About the consortium:
The Leading team of Living vineyards:
- EMMANUEL BOURGUIGNON, soil specialist – The Porto Protocol
- TOM CRONGHAN - https://www.portoprotocol.com/people/tom-croghan/
- COLLABORATIVE NETWORK:
Current group
• CANADA
o Mark Anthony Group
o Unsworth Vineyards
o Saunders Family Farm & Vine
• USA
o Abacela Vineyards and Winery
o Chamisal Vineyards
o Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard
o Honig Vineyard and Winery
o Jackson Family Wines
o The Vineyards at Dodon
o Medlock Ames
o Paicines Ranch Vineyard
o Snowden Vineyards
• ARGENTINA
o Alpamanta
o Catena Zapata
• CHILE
o Emiliana Organic Vineyards
• SOUTH AFRICA
o Paul Clüver Family Wines
o Black Oyster Catcher wines
• FRANCE
o Château du Petit Thouars
o Chateau Feely
o Solaenat
• GERMANY
o Staffelter Hof
• SPAIN
o Raimat
o Gonzalez Byass
• PORTUGAL
o Taylor’s
o Monte do Trevo
o Quinta Campos de Lima
o Rui Lucas
• ITALY
o Kaikna Podere Evolutivo
o Fattoria La Maliosa
o San Polino
o Salcheto
o Le Carezze
o Vini Raggera
• AUSTRIA
o Weingut Braunstein
• ARMENIA
o AreniOne LLC
• SERBIA
o Salas Gnezdo d.o.o
• AUSTRALIA
o Norfolk Rise Vineyard
• NEW ZEALAND
o Coal Pit Winery
Other References (work on the topic):
Agroforestry in Vineyards: Alain Canet, Caro Feely, Juliette Combe and Ted Lemon:
https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/agroforestry-in-vineyards/
Agroforestry in Vineyards_2nd Edition: Emmanuel Bourguignon; Katia Nussbaum; Olga Barbosa, Anne Jones: https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/agroforestry-in-vineyards-2-3/
Vineyards Ecosystems: Emmanuel Bourguignon, Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira, Tom Croghan and Cristina Crava: https://www.portoprotocol.com/solution/vineyards-ecosystems-emmannuel-bourguignon-nuno-gaspar-de-oliveira-tom-croghan-and-cristina-crava/
Previous workshops – Living Vineyard
Workshop 1: https://youtu.be/Xsx2-syN1sc
Workshop 2: https://youtu.be/42FsujpKWh4
Workshop 3: https://youtu.be/Fjf0fkA3PuQ
Workshop 4: https://youtu.be/rDjpWaBuGWw
Indicative budget/Phases
Phase 1: Site Characterization, Remote Sensing & Initial Data Collection
• Ecological and land-use mapping of the Arrighi vineyard and adjacent landscape
• Acquisition and processing of satellite and drone imagery (if available)
• Field surveys on biodiversity, soil quality, and hydrological features
• Data harmonization and structuring into georeferenced indicators
Phase 2: AI Model Development & Excel Interface Programming
• Definition of predictive indicators (biodiversity, ecosystem services)
• Application of supervised learning and regression models
• Programming of an Excel-based dashboard with simulation tools and report templates
• User experience (UX) testing and adaptation
Phase 3: Field Validation, Monitoring & Agroforestry Optimization
• Complementary field data collection and comparison with model predictions
• Calibration of AI outputs to real-life agroecological responses
• Development of site-specific agroforestry strategies
Phase 4: Training, Demonstration & Inclusive Engagement
• Field workshops with vineyard managers and technicians open to other wineries
• Public demonstration of tool functionalities
• Creation of training materials and videos
Phase 5: Final Tool Optimization, Documentation & Network Rollout
• Tool refinement and final AI adjustments based on feedback
• Production of open-access manuals, indicator glossary, and deployment guide
• Promotion through the Living Vineyards network and EU dissemination events
Budget:
Phase 1 - Ecological baseline, remote sensing, field data harmonization| Months 1–2 | 12 000 €
Phase 2 - AI model design, indicator definition, Excel interface programming | Months 3–6 | 45 000 €
Phase 3 - Validation, biodiversity monitoring, scenario testing | Months 7–9 | 16 000 €
Phase 4 - Training workshops, demonstration site development | Months 10–11 | 15 000 €
Phase 5 - Final tool refinement, documentation, network dissemination | Month 12 | 12 000 €
Total Budget: €100 000 (excl. VAT)
• Ecological and land-use mapping of the Arrighi vineyard and adjacent landscape
• Acquisition and processing of satellite and drone imagery (if available)
• Field surveys on biodiversity, soil quality, and hydrological features
• Data harmonization and structuring into georeferenced indicators
Phase 2: AI Model Development & Excel Interface Programming
• Definition of predictive indicators (biodiversity, ecosystem services)
• Application of supervised learning and regression models
• Programming of an Excel-based dashboard with simulation tools and report templates
• User experience (UX) testing and adaptation
Phase 3: Field Validation, Monitoring & Agroforestry Optimization
• Complementary field data collection and comparison with model predictions
• Calibration of AI outputs to real-life agroecological responses
• Development of site-specific agroforestry strategies
Phase 4: Training, Demonstration & Inclusive Engagement
• Field workshops with vineyard managers and technicians open to other wineries
• Public demonstration of tool functionalities
• Creation of training materials and videos
Phase 5: Final Tool Optimization, Documentation & Network Rollout
• Tool refinement and final AI adjustments based on feedback
• Production of open-access manuals, indicator glossary, and deployment guide
• Promotion through the Living Vineyards network and EU dissemination events
Budget:
Phase 1 - Ecological baseline, remote sensing, field data harmonization| Months 1–2 | 12 000 €
Phase 2 - AI model design, indicator definition, Excel interface programming | Months 3–6 | 45 000 €
Phase 3 - Validation, biodiversity monitoring, scenario testing | Months 7–9 | 16 000 €
Phase 4 - Training workshops, demonstration site development | Months 10–11 | 15 000 €
Phase 5 - Final tool refinement, documentation, network dissemination | Month 12 | 12 000 €
Total Budget: €100 000 (excl. VAT)