November 21, 2024 – R&D Committee Meeting – Simone D. Castellarin, Nik Wilson, Sarah Davis, UBC – Okanagan

Year 1 Update – Temperature and heat-stress mitigation strategies on grape quality in British Columbia vineyards 

Heat stress events are a new reality facing wine grape production in many wine regions. Heat stress can cause severe and long-lasting damage to grapevines by impairing physiological processes (e.g., photosynthesis) and grape quality. Understanding how these events impact grapevine productivity and wine quality is a top priority for the sector. In this seminar we will present the results of several experiments conducted in controlled environments during the summer 2024. We compared the physiological responses of eight grapevine varieties cultivated in BC to simulated heatwaves, and we studied the effect of heat stresses to grapevine physiology and the berry composition when in combination with water deficit.