Research into alternative vineyard practices is essential to maintain long-term viticulture sustainability. Organic mulching on the vine row improves vine cultivation properties, such as increasing soil water retention and nutrient availability. This study overviewed the effects of three organic mulches (spent mushroom compost (SMC), straw (STR), and grapevine pruning debris (GPD)) and two conventional soil practices (herbicide application (HERB) and tillage (TILL)) on grapevine physiology, agronomy, and grape quality parameters over three years. SMC mulch enhanced soil moisture and nutrient concentration. However, its mineral composition increased soil electrical conductivity (0.78 dS m⁻¹) and induced grapevine water stress due to osmotic effects without significantly affecting yield plant development. Only minor differences in leaf physiological parameters were observed during the growing season. However, straw (STR) mulch reduced water stress and increased photosynthetic capacity, resulting in higher pruning weights. Organic mulches, particularly SMC and STR, increased grape pH, potassium, malic acid, and tartaric acid levels, while reducing yeast assimilable nitrogen. The effect of organic mulching on grapevine development depends mainly on soil and mulch properties, soil water availability, and environmental conditions. This research highlights the importance of previous soil and organic mulch analysis to detect vineyard requirements and select the most appropriate soil management treatment.

The consolidation of scientific knowledge is based on the accumulation and understanding of previous findings. Nowadays, reviews of the scientific literature have become more effective through the use of meta‐analyses, which are systematic evaluations of the results from multiple studies. Similarly, mega‐analyses, which combine raw data from many studies into a single sample for processing and statistical analysis, are a very powerful tool for analyzing results of heterogeneous origin but require a high level of collaboration between the researchers contributing data. In the framework of a collaborative methodology between different Spanish viticultural research groups, this work uses a mega‐analytical approach to quantify the effects of changes in vine water status on vine vegetative growth, yield, and grape composition, integrating a wide range of growing conditions to obtain robust general trends of vine performance under water deficit. The mean seasonal stem water potential data from the different studies allowed a classification into five levels of water status (no deficit ⟶ mild ⟶ moderate ⟶ high ⟶ severe). A progressive decrease in vegetative growth with increasing deficit was observed, while yield decreased more markedly as water deficit progressed from moderate to high. On the other hand, titratable acidity was more sensitive to variation in water status than sugar concentration, with a greater decrease in titratable acidity when changing from no to moderate deficit. Conversely, increasing water deficit from moderate to high resulted in the greatest increases in grape anthocyanin in the red varieties explored. The results obtained in this work provide solid information on general trends in grapevine response to water deficit that can be used in simulation models or incorporated by grape growers in their decision‐making processes in relation not only to irrigation management but also on other agronomic tools to impact grapevine water status.