Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies for Climate Change in Viticulture Systems
Deis, Leonor *
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina and Facultad de Enología. Unviersidad de Rovira i Virgili, Spain.
Maza Deis, Sofía
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina.
Quiroga, Andrea Mariela
FICA, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Climate change is increasingly affecting viticulture through rising temperatures, heat waves, drought, and extreme climatic events, with significant consequences for grapevine phenology, physiology, yield, berry composition, and wine quality. This review critically synthesises current knowledge regarding the physiological, agronomic, and oenological impacts of climate change on viticulture systems, with emphasis on the interaction between heat stress, water deficit, genotype, and vineyard management practices. Particular attention is given to cultivar- and rootstock-dependent responses, environmental interactions, and the contrasting results reported under different climatic and management conditions. The review evaluates adaptation and mitigation strategies currently proposed for sustainable viticulture, including the use of drought-tolerant rootstocks, cultivar and clonal selection, vineyard relocation to cooler regions or higher altitudes, regulated deficit irrigation, cover crops, carbon sequestration practices, kaolin application, and overhead cooling systems. Evidence from field and controlled-environment studies indicates that these strategies may improve grapevine resilience by modulating water relations, canopy temperature, photosynthetic performance, and berry composition. However, their effectiveness is highly dependent on stress intensity, timing, cultivar, and local environmental conditions, highlighting the difficulty of establishing universal recommendations. The review also identifies important knowledge gaps related to the long-term effects of combined heat and drought stress, genotype × environment × management interactions, and the limited integration of physiological and agronomic approaches across viticultural regions. Overall, sustainable adaptation to climate change will require integrative and site-specific strategies capable of preserving grape quality, vineyard productivity, and environmental sustainability under increasingly complex climatic scenarios.
Keywords: Climate change, viticulture, grapevine physiology, adaptation strategies, heat stress, water stress, grape quality, carbon sequestration, rootstocks, sustainable viticulture