Grape (Vitis vinifera) compositional data spanning ten successive vintages in the context of abiotic growing parameters

Information about changes in grape berry composition (e.g. total anthocyanins, total soluble solids and pH) in the context of the main growing parameters said to be changing with climate change (e.g. temperature, rainfall) is limited. This information is necessary in order to predict wine composition in possible future climate change scenarios as well as to help us to understand the adaptability of new varieties, new viticultural regions or winemaking practices. The aims of this study were to look at grape berry composition results often successive vintages in the context of temperature, rainfall and CO2 emissions. Results of this study confirmed observations and anecdotal evidence that warm viticultural regions tend to produce grapes with lower total anthocyanins (in average 0.9 mg g(-1)) compared with cool regions. However, some growing regions and seasons may have sub-optimal temperatures for anthocyanin production and may improve with climate change related temperature rises. Although the results presented here are from observations, we believe that these data can be utilised and incorporated to climate change modelling systems, in order to better understand and define the effect of climate change on the environmental and economical sustainability of the wine production in Australia. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.