IL CLIMA NEL VINO. METODI DI RICOSTRUZIONE E IMPATTI ECONOMICI DELLE FLUTTUAZIONI CLIMATICHE NELLE REGIONI VITIVINICOLE (SECOLI XVII-XX)

This study discusses the potential of wine quality as a new proxy data for the historical climatology. Wine-growing regions represent traditional areas of research since the beginnings of the discipline, when it was discovered the value of grape harvest dates (GHD) for the reconstruction of temperatures in the pre-instrumental period. However, annual meteorological variability exerts a considerable influence also on winemaking’s results. To define the quality of wine we propose a quantitative index to convert narrative descriptions in vintage quality ratings. The analysis of the relationship between grape harvest dates and wine quality ratings shows significative correspondences in several European regions opening new perspectives of research for areas devoid of phenological data. Moreover, the information on vintages characteristics expands the meteorological knowledge available through the GHD series allowing useful suggestions about the seasonal distribution of temperature anomalies and precipitations. Finally, it was investigated also the role of the vintages quality in the economies of wine-growing regions, finding unexpected similarities in wine prices’ historical trends of different European countries.