Climate change impacts on viticulture in Croatia: Viticultural zoning and future potential

Abstract

Since changes in temperature and precipitation have different effects on (a) all developmental stages of grapevines in most of the wine regions worldwide (i.e., on their phenological characteristics) and (b) different varieties, a comprehensive database of bioclimatic indices has been calculated and analysed for Croatian wine producing regions. The database consists of the average growing season temperature, growing degree‐days, Huglin index, dryness index and cool night index that are based on all available meteorological measurements as well as the outputs of regional climate models (RCMs) from the EURO‐CORDEX database. The horizontal grid spacing of 0.11° from the RCM ensembles enabled a fine‐scale determination of bioclimatic indices for the present and future climate in Croatia. In addition, statistical analyses (standard statistical parameters and Bayesian method) were carried out to examine trends in sugar content, total acidity and date of harvest. Calculations were performed for the present and future climate on the basis of data from seven selected vineyards/wineries and four varieties (‘Graševina’, ‘Plavac mali’, ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘Merlot’). The results show whether the part of Croatia that is suitable for grape cultivation in the present climate will continue to be favourable in the future within the Mediterranean area. In general, projections suggest further warming and drying of the climate in Croatia and an earlier harvest, with some variations among varieties that show latitude dependence. Projections for the future climate also suggest that the existing viticultural zoning will be much less adequate for the Croatian territory because it reduces the economically sustainable production of wine in certain areas.

Modelling Chablis vintage quality in response to inter-annual variation in weather

“…In both cases, since harvest typically takes around two weeks to complete, August or mid-August to mid-September might be a more relevant period to consider for the CNI in future developments of the model, as suggested by the slight improvement in model performance achieved by using August and September instead of just September. Omazić et al (2020) found the same problem with CNI for wine regions in Croatia due to earlier harvests.…”

Hail Climatology Along the Northeastern Adriatic

“…Zaninović et al (2008) indicated that the significant differences between the western coast of Istria and inland were exhibited in the temperature, precipitation, water vapor, air humidity, solar radiation, insolation duration, and cloudiness fields. Based on the 2‐m temperatures (mean, min, and max), precipitation, relative humidities, and wind speeds, Omazić et al (2020) have calculated bioclimatic indices for present and future climates. Their results (maps) clearly show a distinct difference between the coastal and inner regions for both present and future climates.…”

Geographical Discrimination of Croatian Wines by Stable Isotope Ratios and Multielemental Composition Analysis

“…Consequently, a question arises of interpreting the isotopic data from EU wine data bank in regards to chaptalization, requiring a larger number of representative samples and expert interpretation. The shortcomings of Croatian vineyards zoning are also suggested by projections of further warming and drying of the climate in Croatia ( 93 ), making the existing viticulture zoning even less adequate.…”