Winegrowing strategies for adapting to climate change in a warm climate zone

Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Tecnología de Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario (ceiA3), Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, España

Abstract

Climate predictions and simulations forecast that climate change will be one of the major challenges for wine production in the future, as grape quality and vine yields depend on interactions between temperature, water availability, plant material and viticultural techniques employed. Climate change is leading to earlier harvesting, accelerated vine growth and grape over-ripening, leading to the production of grape musts with higher potential alcohol content, higher pH, lower acidity and severe nutritional deficiencies. In order to mitigate these effects, it is necessary to establish short-term viticultural or oenological strategies to minimise the effects of global warming on current wine-growing regions. Therefore, this work presents research results related to the potential of autochthonous grape cultivars from a warm climate area, which could be better adapted to the agro-climatic conditions associated with climate change; as well as the results of the application and recovery of ancestral oenological techniques in the area of sherry wine production (sun-drying and skin contact fermentation), which could contribute to this new climatic scenario as an alternative in wine production.