CHANGES IN EUROPEAN WINEGRAPE PHENOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIMATE LES CHANGEMENTS DANS WINEGRAPE PHENOLOGY EUROPEEN ET LES RELATIONS AVEC LE CLIMAT G. V. JONES1, E. DUCHENE2, D. TOMASI3, J. YUSTE4, O. BRASLAVSKA5, H. SCHULTZ6, C. MARTINEZ7, S. BOSO7, F. LANGELLIER8, C. PERRUCHOT9, AND G. GUIMBERTEAU10 1Department of Geography, Southern OregonUniversity, Ashland, Oregon 97520, USA Email:
[email protected] 2 Unité Mixte de Recherche Santé de la Vigne et Qualité du Vin, INRA-ULP, France 3 Istituto Sperimentale per La Viticultura, Conegliano, Italy 4Servicio de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain 5Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, Banska Bystrica, Slovak Republic 6Department of Viticulture, The Geisenheim Research Institute, Geisenheim, Germany 7Misión Biológica de Galicia CSIC, Pontevedra, Spain 8Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, Reims, France 9Domaine Louis Latour, Aloxe Corton, Côte d'OR, France 10Univerisity of Bordeaux II (retired), Bordeaux, France Abstract: This research presents a summary of the observed winegrape phenological characteristics and trends across many regions and varieties in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Slovakia. In addition, the research examines concomitant climatic changes that have influenced the phenological timing. The results reveal significantly earlier events (6-18 days) with shorter intervals between events (4-14 days) across most regions. In addition, warming trends in most regions are evident and have clearly influenced these changes in the phenological cycle of winegrapes in Europe. Changes are typically greater in minimum temperatures than maximum temperatures, with an average warming of 1.7°C during the growing season and increases of nearly 300 growing degree-days or Huglin index values over the last 50 years.