There is increasing scientific consensus that climate changeis the underlying cause of the prolonged dry and hot conditions that have increased the risk of extreme fire weather in many countries around the world. In December 2019, a bushfire event occurred in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia where 25,000 hectares were burnt and in vineyards and surrounding areas various degrees of scorching and infrastructure damage occurred. The ability to coordinate and plan recovery after a fire event relies on robust and timely data. The current practice for measuring the scale and distribution of fire damage is to walk or drive the vineyard and score individual vines based on visual observation. The process is time consuming, subjective, or semi-quantitative at best. After the December 2019 fires, it took many months to access properties and estimate the area of vineyard damaged. This study compares the rapid assessment and mapping of fire damage using high-resolution satellite imagery with more traditional ground based measures. Satellite imagery tracking vineyard recovery in the season following the bushfire is being correlated to field assessments of vineyard productivity such as canopy health and development, fertility and carbohydrate storage. Canopy health in the seasons following the fires correlated to the severity of the initial fire damage. Severely damaged vines had reduced canopy growth, were infertile or had very low fertility as well as lower carbohydrate levels in buds and canes during dormancy, which reduced productivity in the seasons following the bushfire event. In contrast, vines that received minor damage were able to recover within 1-2 years. Tools that rapidly and affordably capture the extent and severity of damage over large vineyard area will allow producers, government and industry bodies to manage decisions in relation to fire recovery planning, coordination and delivery, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their response.

Climate change is leading to an increase in average temperature and in the frequency and severity of heatwaves that is already significantly affecting grapevine phenology and berry composition (Webb et al., 2010). This is compounded by water stress, which is well known to increase the vulnerability of grapevines and berries to heatwaves. In hot climate regions like australia, grape production is only possible due to relatively secure supplies of water for irrigation. However, the upper temperature limits for berry survival of well-watered grapevines remains to be tested.

The use of soil conservation practices in wine grape production is becoming common throughout the world in response to an increased awareness of the value of soil health to maintain crop productivity and environmental quality. However, little information is available on the meaning of soil health within a viticultural context, and what soil properties should be targeted to achieve both the agronomic and environmental goals of wine grape producers. Conservation practices lead to increases in soil organic matter which may improve soil water retention, and increase soil C content therefore constituting a potential avenue to adapt to droughts and sequester C. Well-known management practices such as the use of cover crops, compost or no-till, although effective, seem to result in highly variable outcomes in soil organic matter and other soil health indicators. This variability is likely associated to the application of the practices in different soils and climates. Thus, integration of soil health building practices needs a thorough understanding of their efficacy under different conditions. Furthermore, additions of soil organic matter could trigger emissions of CO2 and N2O, a potent greenhouse gas that could represent a potential tradeoff of soil conservation practices. Finally, nutrient and water availability may be affected by the increase in soil organic matter having consequences for vine balance and grape quality.

Chitosan is a natural polymeric saccharide admitted by EU since 2011 for must and wine clarification, the reduction of some contaminants (e.g. ochratoxin A) and to prevent the development of wine microbialspoilage due to lactic acid bacteria or Dekkera/Brettanomyces yeasts.

Barrel ageing is a crucial step in the wine process because it allows many changes to the wine as enrichment, colour stabilization, clarification and also a slow oxygenation. Effects of the oak barrel have to be known to prevent oxidation of the wine. The type of bung used during ageing is also a parameter to consider. Ageing sweet wines in barrel is a real challenge. These wines may need some oxygen at the beginning of ageing but they should be protected at the end of their maturation, to avoid oxidation.