Observed and expected shift in climatic and bio-climatic indices in an alpine region

Climate change poses urgent questions about the future of premium wine production in many wine-growing regions, and there is a wide interest in predicting the landscape suitability for viticulture, according to climate change scenarios. Warmer and drier conditions have mostly contributed to an increase of wine quality in many regions of the world, but a further increase of temperature and dryness could take the bioclimatic driver beyond the optimum, leading to a worsening of ratings. For temperate wine-producing areas, like the vineyards of Trentino, a mountain region in the Italian Alps, the expected effects of warmer and drier conditions would consist in a better ripening and sanitary status of the grapes of red varieties, earlier harvest of white varieties, particularly for sparkling wine production, and a possible enlargement of the viticulture area to higher elevation. Some varieties are particularly affected by the warm conditions (i.e. Müller Thurgau) and new planting are recommended right now in cooler areas (above 450 m a.s.l.).