SANTA MARIA D’HORTA D’AVINYÓ, Spain — Flames engulfed a forest in Catalonia, Spain, advancing through an extensive wooded area and heading directly toward hundreds of hectares of pine trees and undergrowth. But before it reached them, the fire found Celler Abadal, an 800-year-old family winery spread across the red clay hills.
As the fire approached the neat rows of vines, separated from the tree line by just a few feet of barren soil, something strange happened.
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The fire stopped.
It was an example, in 2017, of unexpectedly positive news. Certain landscapes, including vineyards, can help slow or even partially stop out-of-control wildfires.
“It’s not just because it’s beautiful,” said Ramón Roqueta, owner of Celler Abadal, walking through his terraced vineyard on a sunny day this month, pointing to a virtually treeless hill where the flames have already advanced. “It’s also making the region more resilient.”
Wildfires in Europe are getting more intense and more catastrophic over time. Last year, the continent experienced its worst fire season since records began in 2006, with almost 1 million hectares burned. In 2026, the accumulated area affected by fire already exceeds the annual average recorded between 2006 and 2025.
As the fires worsen, European countries are adapting, focusing less on just disaster response and more on preparedness.
An innovative idea advocated by researchers in the field is that wine producers — along with truffle producers and beekeepers — can play an essential role in making dry and arid regions more resilient to climate change and extreme fires.
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In the case of vineyards, green and lush vines are difficult to burn. The clear space between the rows forces the fire to jump to continue advancing. And grapes thrive where other crops cannot. Vineyards sometimes install water access points and access routes in mountainous areas, infrastructure that is useful to firefighters and might not otherwise exist.
Likewise, truffle cultivation and honey production encourage farmers to care for areas of forest that would otherwise grow unmanaged.
In view of this, over the last year, experts linked to the Catalan Forest Science and Technology Center began granting the “Wine Against Fire” and “Product Against Fire” seal to vineyards and other rural properties that adopt practices capable of helping to avoid future disasters.
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Last year, Celler Abadal became the first winery to receive the “Wine Against Fire” seal.
The seal, similar to the organic certification present on many European labels, seeks both to reward good practices and to expand and disseminate knowledge about effective measures. The expectation is that consumers will start to recognize it, transforming it into a marketing tool that rewards responsible producers.
“Those who become part of the seal become more aware of what they are doing well and what they can still improve,” said Elena Górriz Mifsud, senior researcher at the Center for Forestry Science and Technology in Catalonia and one of those responsible for the project. According to her, the European Union provided the initial financing.
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“We are not just producing wine,” he explained. “We are producing security.”
Katerina Horakova, a spokeswoman for the European Union, said that although authorized certification only exists in Catalonia for now, the model is adaptable and “there is a possibility that it will be expanded to other fire-prone regions.”
According to Górriz Mifsud, companies from the south of France, Bulgaria and the Canary Islands showed interest in the program.
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The initiative is one of several actions taken by European authorities to tackle the growing threat of forest fires.
The European Union has developed advanced mapping and monitoring technologies, which are being improved with more data and frequent updates.
The bloc and national governments also work together to position firefighters in areas of greatest risk and expand fleets of firefighting aircraft.
But preventive measures, such as landscape management, have assumed an increasingly important role.
In Spain, six vineyards in Catalonia and two in Galicia have received the “Wine Against Fire” seal, said Górriz Mifsud, and the forest science center is in the process of granting certification to around 30 other wine producers, with more recognitions in the pipeline.
According to Roqueta, his vineyard achieved the distinction in part due to the measures adopted after the 2017 fire.
Although the flames did not destroy the vineyard, the fire burned some areas and left other grapes permeated with the flavor of smoke.
While walking through the fields, Roqueta pointed out the donkeys grazing in the nearby forest. They help to reduce excess vegetation in the woods around the vineyard.
The property also removed grasses from areas near the tree line, leaving less material to fuel fires.
Martín Códax Viticultores, a wine cooperative in Galicia, approached the forestry science center after fires raged in the region for two weeks last year.
The “Wine Against Fire” team suggested that vineyards maintain buffer zones between the vines and the forest, reduce vegetation during fire season and improve access to water for firefighting teams, said Miguel Tubío, director of the cooperative.
“We increasingly see vineyards not just as crops,” Tubío wrote in an email.
Juan Martínez de Aragón said the same about his black truffles.
He runs Biotruf, which grows this aromatic delicacy in the hills of Catalonia. Just like vineyards, truffle plantations can help prevent the spread of flames.
Truffles are grown on holm oak trees. The rows of trees are well spaced and away from the surrounding forest, with lines of water running between them. Vegetation on the surrounding soil is sparse due to the way truffles grow.
“It’s something that happens naturally: the elimination of vegetation from the soil because the fungus around the tree acts as a natural herbicide,” explained Martínez de Aragón. “They function as islands spread across what would otherwise be the forest.”
As part of the business, Martínez de Aragón takes tourists to look for truffles, showing how to clean and prepare the fungi. In the tasting room, he displays the packaging used for his truffles, marked with the “Produto Contra o Fogo” seal.
“The public needs to know that, in addition to the fact that truffles are very tasty and widely consumed, we are carrying out very important work,” he said.
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