Phenology and Terroir Heard Through the Grapevine

In viticulture, phenology is an integrative science that studies the major growth stages of the grapevine. Vine development during the growing season includes a vegetative growth period followed by berry growth. Terroir is a French concept that states the complete biophysical environment of the grapevine including key factors such as bedrock, soil, climate, slope, and aspect influence the character and quality of wine. Wine regions and vineyards alike exhibit variability in both phenology and terroir, and consequently are fertile ground for scientific research. The critical literature on both phenology and terroir is surveyed to decipher the factors responsible for this spatial and temporal variability. Climate factors play a large role in the timing of the main phenological stages. The grapevine has been shown to respond to climate warming with an advancement of the main phenological stages and the shortening of phenological interval. On the scale of wine regions, climate and specifically water availability are key terroir factors that dictate variations in berry quality, but on the vineyard scale where climate might be considered more constant, variations in soil contribute to subtle differences in grape quality.