How to make your vineyard more resilient to climate change
We are entering an era where climate patterns no longer follow predictable cycles. Temperatures continue to rise, rainfall becomes erratic, and weather events grow more violent and frequent. Climate adaptation and climate change resilience are becoming urgent challenges for wine growers. The new normal is the extreme and although every wine region faces its own particular climate challenges, the need for change is clear: resilience needs to be built into every vineyard’s planning.
Regenerative viticulture’s practices help growers adapt to climate change (by making vineyards more resilient to drought, heat, floods and diseases) and mitigate climate change (by building soil carbon and enhancing biodiversity that stabilises ecosystems). Unlike some short-term technical fixes, regeneration goes beyond just ‘sustaining’ and builds long-term balance and resilience in vineyard environments.
Some traditional wine growing regions are contending with heat spikes that last for weeks (sometimes multiple times in one growing season), droughts that last for years, and ripening during the hottest months, with a loss of acidity, phenolics, anthocyanins and tannins, altering wine styles. There is also increased vintage variation. When rains come they can be extreme. Bare, compacted soil does not allow storm water to infiltrate. Instead it flows rapidly through the vineyards taking topsoil with it and damaging vines and infrastructure and degrading the vineyards’ ecosystems.
About 90% of traditional wine regions in coastal and lowland regions of Spain, Italy, Greece and southern California could be at risk of disappearing by the end of the century because of excessive drought and more frequent heatwaves with climate change.
Van leeuwen et al., Climate change impacts and
adaptations of wine production, nature reviews, april 2024
Regeneration of vineyard environments and ecosystems offer solutions that can be implemented in vineyards the world over.
Here we outline different techniques that can be used to combat climate change and increase resilience to specific viticultural challenges. These approaches address several challenges simultaneously and strengthen the whole system, making it more capable of meeting many challenges at the same time.
Rising temperatures
Global temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate. The higher temperatures change vine phenology, increase vine stress and alter fruit balance, as shown in the diagram below. The impact is different in different wine regions.
From Climate change impacts and adaptations of wine production, van Leeuwen et al., Nature 2024 link
Earlier budburst can increase the likelihood and/or degree of exposure to late frosts, extending this to regions that previously may not have experienced this. Click here [needs link to page on frost] for information on techniques for frost.
Faster ripening can shorten the growing season and result in ripening during the warmest part of the year. This affects flavour complexity as it decouples technical and phenological ripening, i.e. the anthocyanins, tannins, phenolics, etc. are not fully developed at these earlier harvest dates.
Higher temperatures also increase sugar levels, resulting in higher alcohol content in wines.
Warmer night time temperatures can reduce acidity in the berries, resulting in a loss of freshness and balance in wines.
Increased evapotranspiration can result in water stress, reducing photosynthesis and weakening vines.
Warmer air temperatures enable the air to hold more moisture, resulting in increased disease pressure in wetter areas. Click here for more information on regenerative techniques for pests and diseases. This includes the use of natural pest predators and insectary plants to combat emerging pests and the use of bio-pesticides and biocontrol agents to combat pests and diseases without synthetic chemicals.
As a consequence some varietals are no longer suitable for some wine regions and/or wine styles are changing.
There are interventions shown in the diagram above which can limit the impact of rising temperatures, including changing varietals to more disease tolerant varieties (locally adapted species) or climate tolerant varieties. In addition regenerative viticulture techniques can be employed, including:
Improving soil health
By increasing soil organic matter and improving soil structure, regenerative practices enhance water-holding capacity and root penetration, which reduce vine stress under high temperatures and prolonged dry periods.
Why it works:
- Deeper roots access subsoil moisture
- Improved root systems increase vine resilience to temperature fluctuations
More information can be found in our toolkit here.
Planting trees/agroforestry/vitiforestry
Integrating trees into vineyards moderates the microclimate around the vines and creates a more balanced vineyard microclimate by shading vines, reducing temperature extremes, and increasing humidity through transpiration.
Why it works:
- Creates microclimates, cooling the canopy and increasing humidity
- Can shade the canopy
- Reduces wind stress
More information can be found here.
Cover crops/ground cover
Cover crops cool and protect the soil surface while improving soil structure, water retention, and biological activity. By reducing evaporation and feeding soil microbes, they help create a more resilient root environment under increasing heat and drought.
Why it works:
- Improves soil health by protecting the soil microbiome
- Reduces soil evapotranspiration, making more moisture available
More information can be found here.
Extreme heat
Extreme heat events are now more frequent, intense and last for longer periods of time. The image below shows how management techniques can have a dramatic effect on soil temperatures, in comparison with a bare soil unprotected from extreme heat.
In addition to the impacts of rising temperatures in general (see here), heatwaves cause heat stress, sunburn and dehydration in vines. Some regions experience prolonged periods of heatwaves several times in a growing season.
Sunburned grapes are bitter and have lower yields. Water stress reduces photosynthesis and weakens vines.
Regenerative techniques can be employed including:
Improving soil health
By improving soil structure and increasing soil organic matter, a healthy soil can capture and hold more rainwater, providing vines with access to moisture during dry periods, reducing vine water stress during extended droughts.
Why it works:
- Deeper roots access subsoil moisture
- Improved root systems increase vine resilience to temperature fluctuations
More information can be found here.
Keeping the ground covered
Vegetated soils are cooler than bare soils. Therefore keeping the ground covered, either through naturally regenerated sward, cover crops or mulch, helps build resilience to heatwaves. A naturally regenerated sward is a living ground cover that develops from the vineyard’s own seed bank, forming a locally adapted plant community that protects and nourishes the soil.
Why it works:
- Reduces surface heat as bare soils can reach 60°C
- Protects soil biology from intense heat
- Supports root function during heat events
More information can be found here.
Planting trees/agroforestry/vitiforestry
Vitiforestry is the integration of trees into vineyards to create resilient, biodiverse systems that regenerate soil, moderate climate extremes, increase the infiltration and storage of water, sequester more carbon dioxide and strengthen the ecological foundation of winegrowing.
Why it works:
In periods of heat the increased evaporation:
- Increases the humidity of the air
- Offers shade
- Reduces canopy temperatures
More information can be found here.
Regenerative hydrology
Regenerative hydrology techniques are land-management practices that work with natural water flows to restore the landscape’s ability to absorb, store, and slowly release water rather than rapidly shedding it as runoff. Examples include planting vines along natural contours, creating swales and terraces, slowing down the passage of water through the vineyard, restoring wetlands, and building ponds or retention basins. These features interrupt the downhill movement of rainwater, allowing it to soak into the soil profile and recharge groundwater instead of washing topsoil and nutrients away.
Why it works:
- Reduces surface runoff
- Increases infiltration into the soil
- Reduce erosion
- Stores water in the landscape for use during dry periods
More information can be found here.
Prolonged drought and water scarcity
Some traditional wine regions have been experiencing multi-year droughts. Regions reliant on snow meltwater, e.g. Mendoza Argentina, are experiencing dramatic reductions in available water. New regulations are prioritising groundwater for other crops and this is likely to increase in the future. Dry farming techniques are being implemented where feasible.
In addition to the impacts of rising temperatures (see here) and extreme heat events (see here), water shortages result in smaller berries, with lower yields. When soils dry out this reduces microbial activity, resulting in poor vine nutrition.
This can lead to poor vine performance, crop loss and wine style imbalance.
Regenerative techniques can be employed that allow more water to be stored for when it is not available, whether that is in the soil or in ponds:
Improving soil health
Improving soil structure and increasing soil organic matter help retain moisture in the soil and allow deeper root penetration. Healthy soil functions as a water reservoir, buffering vines during prolonged dry periods. Minimising soil disturbance and adding organic soil amendments helps build soil health. Increasing organic matter directly increases the soil’s ability to store more water.
Why it works:
- Each additional 1% of soil organic matter enables the soil to store 20,000 gallons at 1 foot depth per acre (this varies according to soil type and initial conditions)
- Deeper roots access subsoil moisture
- Improved root systems increase vine resilience to fluctuations in water availability, buffering vines against drought
More information can be found here.
and a conventionally farmed vineyard on the right after prolonged drought
Keeping the ground covered
Vegetated soils enable more rainfall to be stored in the soil, rather than running off during extreme rains. They do not lose as much moisture from evaporation compared to bare soils. They help build organic matter in the soils, further increasing water holding capacity. Therefore keeping the ground covered helps more moisture enter the soil – and stay there. This can be through naturally regenerated sward (a living ground cover that develops from the vineyard’s own seed bank), cover crops that use require low ground water, or mulch.
Why it works:
- Increases water infiltration of the soil
- Increases soil organic matter and therefore water holding capacity
- Reduces surface evaporation
- Offer shading / surface cooling
More information can be found here.
Planting trees/agroforestry/vitiforestry
Planting trees increases both the infiltration and the storage of water deep down in the soil. This moderates climate extremes.
Why it works:
- The large size of trees enables more water to be taken down into the soil
- The size and depth of the root structures enable more water to be stored deep down in the soil
- Reduces canopy temperatures
- Trees offer shading / cooling and increase evapotranspiration / humidity around canopy
More information can be found here.
Regenerative hydrology
Regenerative hydrology techniques, e.g. planting vines along contours and building ponds, slow down the passage of water through the vineyard, reducing soil erosion and storing water for when it is needed.
Why it works:
- Slows down the flow of water, reducing soil erosion, improving soil’s water holding capacity
- Allows water to filter down into the ground, further slowing the passage of water and increasing water in aquifers and/or creating shallow water tables that can allow plants to find water through capillary action
- Provides sources of water for when rainwater is not available
More information can be found here.
Wildfires
More frequent droughts and heatwaves are driving an increase in wildfires, which damage vines and reduce yields through burning and smoke taint.
Many regions have recently suffered from wildfires, including Australia and South Africa experiencing devastating fires in 2026. In 2020 two million hectares of forest was lost in California.
So why are we getting more fires and how can regenerative viticulture build resilience?
One of the causes is a lack of moisture in the soil, caused by tile drainage in vineyards designed to remove rainwater as rapidly as possible, a lack of organic matter in the soil (1% of soil organic matter can store up to 20,000 gallons of water per acre at a depth of one foot), and the removal of groundwater for other uses.
Paradoxically, increasing frequency and level of floods can lead to droughts and wildfires. Extreme precipitation events can wash away topsoil and leave the landscape with dying or stressed vegetation that ignites more easily and less able to retain moisture afterwards and therefore more vulnerable to drought stress. The loss of organic matter reduces water infiltration into the soil and down into aquifers below.
“With less water infiltrating underground, less water will slowly seep out over the ensuing months, to keep rivers running, and to keep the soil and vegetation moist into the dry season. With less hydration, the land becomes more susceptible to wildfires. Enhancing the ability of landscapes to retain rainwater is a solution which addresses all of the types of disasters.”
alpha lo, climate water project
If landscapes can retain more water, then it will become more hydrated into dry season, which will then lead to less wildfires.
There are many ways to retain more water in the landscape. Regenerative techniques include:
Improving soil health
This retains moisture in the soil and allows water to filter down into aquifers. Healthy soil functions as a water reservoir, buffering vines during prolonged dry periods. Minimising soil disturbance and adding organic soil amendments help build soil health. Increasing organic matter directly increases the soil’s ability to store more water.
Why it works:
- Each additional 1% of soil organic matter enables the soil to store 20,000 gallons at 1 foot depth per acre (this varies according to soil type and initial conditions)
- Increasing soil sponginess can decrease flood strength, in turn decreasing fire risk
More information can be found here.
Low combustible ground covers
Keeping the ground covered with living roots helps water filter into the soil. It also stops the cycle of flood-drought-fire. However, it is important to select low combustible plants which, when they catch fire, can be put out with a boot. More information can be found here.
Regenerative hydrology
In many conventional vineyards, excess rainwater is removed as quickly as possible through tile drainage systems, and vine rows are often planted straight down slopes. This design accelerates the downhill movement of water, which frequently carries away valuable topsoil and nutrients with it. With climate change bringing more intense rain and longer dry periods, these systems are poorly suited to today’s conditions. Regenerative hydrology redesigns the vineyard to slow and store water in the landscape, improving infiltration, reducing erosion, and providing greater resilience to both floods and drought.
Q. “How much rain did you get this growing season?”
A. Every last dropa grower’s comment on ensuring every drop of rainfall was stored for when it was needed
Information can be found here with examples of producers trialling regenerative hydrology. This includes the use of ponds, swales, check dams, redents and planting vineyards along contours instead of down slopes. These earthworks slow or catch water, so it then sinks more easily underground where it usually travels at a much slower rate. This means it can still be seeping out to keep rivers flowing, and landscapes hydrated into the dry season. If enough water seeps underground to create shallow water tables, plants can use capillary action to draw up that water from the ground table.
Landscape scale management
Improving community or watershed management of water is increasingly being seen as a core solution to build resilience to the new patterns of extreme drought followed by extreme rain. Enhancing the ability of landscapes to retain rainwater is a solution which addresses floods, droughts and fires.
If landscapes can retain more water, then they will become more hydrated through the dry season, which will then lead to less wildfires. And if landscapes can absorb more water when it rains uphill, then the volume and velocity of floods will be less at lower elevations.
Restoring floodplains can absorb floodwaters: one acre of wetland can hold one million gallons of water during floods. Wetlands can release water slowly so that the landscape can be more hydrated into dry seasons. Wetlands also are a way to fill up aquifers and to raise the water table. Wetlands can also increase the humidity, and lower temperatures. This lead to winds which are less dry and hot, winds that are less likely to fan wildfires. Wetlands are also natural firebreaks.
Other adaptations
- Tree protection (e.g. barriers of cork or olive trees)
- Neighbouring woodland managed for fire risk (e.g. grazing animals, collecting fallen wood for biochar)
Extreme rainfall
Climate change is leading to an increase in extreme precipitation events. Warmer air temperatures mean that the air can hold more moisture. Therefore, when it does rain, there is an increase in frequency and extent of flooding. The pattern of rainfall has also changed. Many traditional wine regions would not expect rainfall during the growing season. This is now not uncommon. On sloping vineyards with bare soils flooding causes soil erosion and damage to vines. Depending on the time of year, unusual rain patterns can result in an inability to access the vineyard with machinery, poor flowering and fruit set, increased disease pressure, grape dilution and crop loss.
Regenerative viticulture techniques can be very successful in building resilience to extreme precipitation events:
Improving soil health
Improving soil health enables water to filter into the soil. Minimising soil disturbance and adding organic soil amendments help build soil health. Increasing organic matter directly increases the soil’s ability to store more water.
Why it works:
- Each additional 1% of soil organic matter enables the soil to store 20,000 gallons at 1 foot depth per acre (this varies according to soil type and initial conditions)
- Increasing soil sponginess can decrease flood strength
More information can be found here.
Integrating animals
Using animals to graze the ground cover reduces compaction compared to controlling ground cover with tractors. This allows water to infiltrate the soil in extreme precipitation events, rather than running off. Animals have also been shown to accelerate the regeneration of vineyard soils.
Why it works:
- Heavy vineyard machinery used to mow/plough/strim to control weeds compact the soils, stopping water from filtering in so easily
- Animals do not cause as much compaction
- In addition, animals’ hooves create little depressions in the soil which fill up with water
More information can be found here.
Multi-species / multi rootzone depth ground covers
Incorporating multiple species of plants from multiple plant families creates ground cover composed of many different rooting depths. This facilitates water infiltration and creates air pockets in the soil, reducing compaction. In wet springs, this will enable vineyard managers to access the vineyard for first management.
Why it works:
- Water can infiltrate the soil more easily than if the vineyard floor is bare or there are only short rooted grasses etc.
More information can be found here.
Planting trees/agroforestry/vitiforestry
Planting trees increases the infiltration of water deep down in the soil.
Why it works:
- The large size of trees enable more water to be taken down into the soil
More information can be found here.
Regenerative hydrology
Regenerative hydrology redesigns the vineyard to slow and store water in the landscape, improving infiltration, reducing erosion, and providing greater resilience to both floods and drought. This includes the use of ponds, swales, check dams, redents and planting vineyards along contours instead of down slopes. These earthworks slow or catch water, so it then sinks more easily underground where it usually travels at a much slower rate.
Why it works:
- Slows down the flow of water, reducing soil erosion, improving soil’s water holding capacity
- Allows water to filter down into the ground, further slowing the passage of water and increasing water in aquifers and/or creating shallow water tables
More information can be found here.
Improved upstream watershed management
Improving community or watershed management of water is increasingly being seen as a core solution to build resilience to the new patterns of extreme drought followed by extreme rain. Enhancing the ability of landscapes to retain rainwater is a solution which addresses floods, droughts and fires.
If landscapes can retain more water, then they will become more hydrated through the dry season, which will then lead to less wildfires. And if landscapes can absorb more water when it rains uphill, then the volume and velocity of floods will be less at lower elevations.
Restoring floodplains can absorb floodwaters: one acre of wetland can hold one million gallons of water during floods. Wetlands can release water slowly so that the landscape can be more hydrated into dry seasons. Wetlands also are a way to fill up aquifers and to raise the water table. Wetlands can also increase the humidity, and lower temperatures. This lead to winds which are less dry and hot, winds that are thus less likely to fan wildfires. Wetlands are also natural firebreaks.
Natural pest predators and insectary plants
Climate change is bringing with it an associated change in pest pressures as they are moving into regions that were not previously suitable. Conventional farming often has high areas of monoculture, with no habitats for natural predators. When an infestation occurs, there is nothing to keep it in check and it can only be controlled through application of insecticides. Regenerative farming places a high emphasis on increasing biodiversity both above and below ground to restore ecosystem balance. Instead of routinely using insecticides, beneficial predators are encouraged through provision of suitable habitats through insectary plantings. The areas of vineyards that are not planted to vines are often suitable for planting as they can be left undisturbed.
Why it works:
- A balanced ecosystem can provide natural predators to keep the pests under control
- Planted up margins are not disturbed to facilitate working in vineyard rows
More information can be found here and here.
Frosts
Many wine regions are familiar with spring or autumn air frosts that can cause crop loss or damage. However, climate instability is resulting in unpredictable frost patterns, and warmer springs (which result in advanced phenology) are making buds and young shoots more vulnerable to spring frosts.
Techniques to help protect vines from frosts include:
- Active mechanical frost protection
- Thermal tree carpets
- Higher bud-zones
- Later budding varieties
- Cultural viticulture techniques such later pruning to delay bud burst, sacrificial canes, ground cover to reduce heat radiation and cover crop management to prevent cold air being trapped near vines
Hail
Some wine regions are familiar with hail and the damage it can do to vines and grapes. Conventional hail risk reduction approaches include the use of hail nets, hail cannons, cloud seeding and spreading risk through geographically diverse vineyard parcels. However, climate change is expected to result in larger and more devastating hail storms.
Techniques to help reduce the risk of hail damage include:
- Internal vineyard trees
- Natural materials for canopy protection (biodegradable nets)
There are also reports from regenerative growers Domaine Bousquet in Mendoza that hailstorms are not as destructive in their regeneratively farmed vineyards. See their impact report from 2025 here.
Increased vintage variation
Viticultural regions are familiar with vintage variation as a result of weather. However, in terms of climate change an increase in extremes and greater climate system instability is resulting in both occurrence of ‘extreme’ years and degree of variation beyond those growers are familiar with.
Regenerative viticulture techniques include:
Diversifying/decreasing monoculture
By having more than one crop, the risk associated with vintage variation is reduced. In some regions, e.g. Alentejo, Portugal, large estates consist of vineyards, cork trees, walnuts, almonds and more crops. This decreases vulnerability.
Regenerative practices
All the regenerative practices outlined in the accompanying sections for different climatic challenges will help build resilience to climate change:
- Improving soil health to buffer against high temperatures, extreme rainfall, prolonged drought, wildfires. This can be through adding soil organic matter, reducing tillage, using different rootzone depth ground covers, integrating animals
- Planting trees to offer shading, cooling, increased water infiltration and storage, increased evapotranspiration and humidity
- Increased biodiversity above and below ground to encourage natural predators for variation in pest and disease pressure
- Regenerative hydrology to buffer against drought and extreme rainfall
More information can be found in our toolkit here.
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