Viticulture and Winemaking under Climate Change

Abstract

The importance of viticulture and the winemaking socio-economic sector is acknowledged worldwide. The most renowned winemaking regions show very specific environmental characteristics, where climate usually plays a central role. Considering the strong influence of weather and climatic factors on grapevine yields and berry quality attributes, climate change may indeed significantly impact this crop. Recent-past trends already point to a pronounced increase in the growing season mean temperatures, as well as changes in the precipitation regimes, which has been influencing wine typicity across some of the most renowned winemaking regions worldwide. Moreover, several climate scenarios give evidence of enhanced stress conditions for grapevine growth until the end of the century. Although grapevines have a high resilience, the clear evidence for significant climate change in the upcoming decades urges adaptation and mitigation measures to be taken by the sector stakeholders. To provide hints on the abovementioned issues, we have edited a special issue entitled: “Viticulture and Winemaking under Climate Change”. Contributions from different fields were considered, including crop and climate modeling, and potential adaptation measures against these threats. The current special issue allows the expansion of the scientific knowledge of these particular fields of research, also providing a path for future research.