Spatial complexity and temporal dynamics in viticulture: A review of climate-driven scales

Viticulture is a complex and dynamic system, where climate is a key environmental component of plant suitability and productivity. From field to farm level, climate also plays a prominent role in ongoing practices, shaping winegrowers' decision making and adaptive management. With a changing climate, the wine sector faces many environmental and socio-economic challenges, to which winegrowers are required to adapt. Given the perennial nature of grape growing, there is a need to develop strategies that deal with both short- and long-term climate changes, while likewise accounting for contextual vulnerability. The content of this article aims to provide an overview of climate-driven scales, outlining the spatial complexity and temporal dynamics in viticulture. In addressing these aspects, this literature review offers a framework of scale and cross-scale interactions for policymakers and stakeholders to use when considering responses to attenuate climate change and to reduce its impacts on grape and wine production. The article concludes by discussing the local and context-dependent nature of viticulture in a changing global climate, by emphasizing that the question of scale is fundamental to assessing expected impacts, understanding uncertainty and framing sustainable policies and responses over space and in time.