Climate change will impose increasingly warm and dry conditions on vineyards. Wine quality and yield are strongly influenced by climatic conditions and depend on complex interactions between temperatures, water availability, plant material, and viticultural techniques. In established winegrowing regions, growers have optimized yield and quality by choosing plant material and viticultural techniques according to local climatic conditions, but as the climate changes, these will need to be adjusted. Adaptations to higher temperatures include changing plant material (e.g., rootstocks, cultivars and clones) and modifying viticultural techniques (e.g., changing trunk height, leaf area to fruit weight ratio, timing of pruning) such that harvest dates are maintained in the optimal period at the end of September or early October in the Northern Hemisphere. Vineyards can be made more resilient to drought by planting drought resistant plant material, modifying training systems (e.g., goblet bush vines, or trellised vineyards at wider row spacing), or selecting soils with greater soil water holding capacity. While most vineyards in Europe are currently dry-farmed, irrigation may also be an option to grow sustainable yields under increasingly dry conditions but consideration must be given to associated impacts on water resources and the environment.

A “terroir” is a cultivated ecosystem in which the vine interacts with the soil and the climate. The soil influences vine development and grape ripening through soil temperature, water supply and mineral supply. Soil temperature has a significant effect on vine phenology. Limited water supply to the vines restricts shoot and berry growth, which is critical for reaching a suitable grape composition to produce high-quality red wines. Secondary metabolites, like polyphenols (anthocyanins, tannins) and aroma compounds or their precursors, are impacted in particular by vine water status. Among nutrients vines pick up from the soil, nitrogen plays a key role. Nitrogen influences vine vigor, yield, berry size and grape composition. Low nitrogen supply stimulates the synthesis of polyphenols, while it can negatively impact certain aroma compounds in grapes and wines. Over the past decades, tools have been developed to quantify terroir parameters. Vine water status can be assessed by means of carbon isotope discrimination measured on grape sugar (so-called δ13C). Vine nitrogen status can be assessed with the measurement of Yeast Available Nitrogen (YAN). In this way, terroir parameters can not only be measured but also mapped. Ideally, vineyards should be established in areas where soil temperature (relative to air temperature), soil water holding capacity (relative to rainfall and potential evapotranspiration) and soil nitrogen availability are optimum for the type of wine which is intended to be produced. Terroir expression can, however, be optimized by choosing appropriate plant material, and via vineyard floor management, fertilization and other management techniques.