Climate change is increasing the frequency and duration of droughts, leading to water deficits strongly affecting grapevine berry and wine quality.
Climate change has compressed grapevine phenology, advancing budbreak without a corresponding reduction in the probability or timing of late frosts.
Rapid climate changes and increasing biotic pressures compromise grapevine production systems by threatening grape quality and production yields, thus increasing phytochemical dependence as a widely adopted mitigation strategy.
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera L.) is one of the crops most affected by drought, and climate projections indicate that both the frequency and intensity of drought events will increase further in the future.
Water scarcity is an increasing constraint for viticulture in Mediterranean regions, making the identification of molecular mechanisms underlying drought tolerance a key objective for grapevine breeding and management.
The intra-varietal variability of ancient grapevine varieties allows to identify individuals (i.e. clones) whose phenotype might be interesting for the winemaking industry.
Increasing climate variability and the rising frequency of drought events are intensifying the demand for grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) genotypes with improved performance under water-limited conditions.
Climate change is predicted to alter the water availability where grapevine is cultivated, potentially impacting grape yield and quality [1].
Predicting how sequence variants affect regulatory activity is critical for crop improvement, but confidence in these predictions, especially for diverse varieties, remains insufficient for breeding applications.
Grapevine is a relatively drought-tolerant crop that adopts a variety of strategies in response to water deficit [1].
Viticulture’s global significance enhances the concerns arising from the impending climate changes, with recently studies emphasizing prolonged drought periods.
Vitis vinifera enters dormancy in autumn to face adverse winter conditions and, then, resumes growth and budbreak (BB) in spring, when optimal climate conditions occur.
Epigenetics refers to the layer of genetic information carried in chromatin beyond the DNAsequence, including histone modifications, DNAmethylation and small RNAs.
Water limitation is a major environmental constraint affecting grapevine productivity and fruit quality worldwide.
In order to maintain grapevine production and quality under fluctuating and stressful environments, we urgently need some innovative genetic solutions.