Coping with heatwaves: key points to implement mitigation strategies for berry survival

Extreme heat events have become more frequent and can have a significant impact on agricultural crops, including in viticulture. Since the 1970s, both the duration and frequency of these events have increased, resulting in yield losses as well as deleterious changes to grape composition due to modifications to technical, flavour and phenolic maturity, in addition to other problematic issues such as sunburn (Gambetta et al, 2021a). Understanding why, when and how is crucial to help mitigate the effects of extreme heat, on grape, vine and wine and ensure vineyard sustainability, yield and wine quality (Gouot et al., 2019a).