As the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is steadily increasing this will have considerably effects on agricultural crops including viticulture. To examine plant responses at future CO2 concentrations under field conditions an open “Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment” (FACE) facility for special crops (viticulture and vegetables) was setup in 2012.

In the face of increased water scarcity which accompanies climate change, improving water use efficiency (WUE) becomes crucial for sustaining viticulture in the Mediterranean area. The leeway to improve WUE depends on how water losses are coupled with biomass gain.

The objective of this research was to develop a method for calculating a water stress index (CWSI) for wine grape without direct measurement of well-watered and non-transpiring vines. ‘Syrah’ grapevines were grown under arid conditions in treatment plots that were drip-irrigated at a frequency of one or three times per week to supply either 70 or 35% of evapotranspiration-based vine water demand (ETc) in Parma, ID USA (43.78N, 116.94W; 750 m asl).

A trial was conducted in the hot climate of central California to assess the interactive effects of pruning systems and deficit irrigation methods on canopy architecture, yield, water productivity and phenolic composition of Zinfandel under exceptional drought. Pruning systems were cane-pruned (CP, six-canes with 8-nodes), spur-pruned (SP, 22, two-node spurs) and mechanically-pruned (MP, 100 mm hedge).

There are a range of methods to quantify water stress effects on grapevine physiology. Some studies aim to evaluate plant water status in the short or long term, while others aim to evaluate the impact of water stress on different plant components. The objective of this research was to evaluate the physiological effects of reducing irrigation by about 50% in a commercial vineyard of Pinot noir in Waipara, New Zealand.

Drought-induced changes in vessel size and distribution and shoot hydraulic conductivity were investigated in field-grown Syrah grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) in Northern Greece. Three irrigation regimes, replicated four times, were applied from berry set through harvest: full irrigation (FI: 100% of crop evapotranspiration), deficit irrigation (DI: 30% of crop evapotranspiration) and non-irrigated (NI).

Irrigation management is a critical aspect for cultivation of white grape varieties in order to regularize grape yield and quality in those regions with a clear water limitation, as most of the Spanish growing regions. In the case of cv. Verdejo, the obvious summer water stress situations lead to irrigation needs , which should be in accordance with the site production potential, the adaptation of cultural techniques and the productive and qualitative objective of the producer or wine company.

Irrigation pratices to improve varietal thiols concentration in white wines from cv. Colombard and Gros Manseng in Gascony, a vineyard under oceanic climate

Nowadays, treated wastewater is considered in a lot of countries as a growing alternative resource of water. Although the wastewater reuse remains currently a very limited practice in France, its development in region like Languedoc-Roussillon submitted to high water stress appears to be essential to secure and make sustainable regional agriculture such as viticulture.

Carbon balance has currently gained a special interest in viticulture. Determining vine carbon footprint would allow knowing the contribution of grapevine as carbon sequestration to reduce the effects of global change. There are only a few studies that investigated the effects of different water supplies on whole-plant gas exchange and vine carbon balance.

In California, surface water is a public trust resource that is used by competing interests including urban, agriculture, fish and wild life and other needs. We evaluated vineyard water use on a landscape scale in two watersheds in a climate where 95% of precipitation occurs between November and May. The Upper Russian River Watershed has two large on-stream reservoirs that enable regulated water flow year round.

A better understanding of grapevine responses to drought and high air temperatures can help to optimize vineyard management to improve water use efficiency, yield and berry quality. Faster and robust field phenotyping tools are needed in modern precision viticulture, in particular in dry and hot regions such as the Mediterranean. Canopy temperature (Tc) is commonly used to monitor water stress in plants/crops and to characterize stomatal physiology in different woody species including Vitis vinifera.

Climate change will particularly affect temperature and precipitation regimes in Alpine areas. Mountain viticulture will therefore experience new threats for its economical and environmental sustainability. Under such modified climatic conditions, there is a need to enhance the use efficiency of the irrigation water.

In the last few decades the trend of increasing global temperatures has affected the accumulation of sugars in berries and hence the alcohol degree of wines. Numerous studies have considered different agronomic practices that limit photosynthetic activity and therefore the accumulation of sugars in the berry.

Water is not generally considered a limiting resource for viticulture in cool-climate regions, so often vineyards are not irrigated. However, recent climatic trends of higher average temperatures and erratic precipitation patterns are resulting in decreased soil moisture availability and, consequently, periods of vine water stress.

The effect of deficit irrigation strategies on red grape varieties has been widely studied. In general, an improvement of some important berry and wine compositional traits (e.g. colour and aroma compounds) is achieved by maintaining grapevines under water deficit conditions from pre-veraison to harvest.

By altering the amount of water available to grapevines, irrigation can impact canopy growth, fruit quality and yield, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Most information about irrigation management has been generated using red wine grape cultivars, therefore, two white cultivars, Chardonnay and Riesling, were used in this study. First, the efficiency of three irrigation scheduling aid tools was compared.

The combined effects of radiation and water supply on leaf water potential, stomatal conductance and petiole hydraulic conductance (kpetiole) of field-grown grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Chasselas) were studied during 2013 growing season at the Agroscope Research Station in Leytron (Switzerland).

Authors have reported that water deficit impact on fruit composition can be modulated according to its timing, severity or grape varietal sensitivity to drought. However, until recently, measurement methods were lacking to characterize continuously the dynamic variations of vine water deficit. Consequently, it was difficult to analyze the effect of contrasted levels of water deficit on fruit composition according to plant development stage.

Drought poses the most important environmental constraint to plant survival and crop productivity. Therefore, the goal of this study is to advance a more holistic understanding of drought resistance by examining the ecophysiological and morpho-anatomical adjustments of different cultivars subjected to drought conditions.