Seasonal differences in climate in the Chianti region of Tuscany and the relationship to vintage wine quality.
Climatic factors and weather type frequencies affecting Tuscany are examined to discriminate between vintages ranked into the upper- and lower-quartile years as a consensus from six rating sources of Chianti wine during the period 1980 to 2011. These rankings represent a considerable improvement on any individual publisher ranking, displaying an overall good consensus for the best and worst vintage years. Climate variables are calculated and weather type frequencies are matched between the eight highest and the eight lowest ranked vintages in the main phenological phases of Sangiovese grapevine. Results show that higher heat units; mean, maximum and minimum temperature; and more days with temperature above 35 °C were the most important discriminators between good- and poor-quality vintages in the spring and summer growth phases, with heat units important during ripening. Precipitation influences on vintage quality are significant only during veraison where low precipitation amounts and precipitation days are important for better quality vintages. In agreement with these findings, weather type analysis shows good vintages are favoured by weather type 4 (more anticyclones over central Mediterranean Europe (CME)), giving warm dry growing season conditions. Poor vintages all relate to higher frequencies of either weather type 3, which, by producing perturbation crossing CME, favours cooler and wetter conditions, and/or weather type 7 which favours cold dry continental air masses from the east and north east over CME. This approach shows there are important weather type frequency differences between good- and poor-quality vintages. Trend analysis shows that changes in weather type frequencies are more important than any due to global warming.
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET, Via Taurini 19, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Michael James
MJ
Salinger
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET, Via Taurini 19, 00185, Rome, Italy. m.baldi@ibimet.cnr.it.
Marina
M
Baldi
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET and LaMMA, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi), Italy.
Daniele
D
Grifoni
Department of Environmental Studies, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Boulevard, Ashland, OR, 97520, USA.
Greg
G
Jones
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET and LaMMA, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi), Italy.
Giorgio
G
Bartolini
Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Science, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144, Firenze, Italy.
Stefano
S
Cecchi
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET and LaMMA, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi), Italy.
Gianni
G
Messeri
Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Science, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144, Firenze, Italy.
Anna
A
Dalla Marta
Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Science, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144, Firenze, Italy.
Simone
S
Orlandini
Institute of Biometeorology, CNR-IBIMET, Via Taurini 19, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Giovanni A
GA
Dalu
Accademia dei Georgofili, Firenze, Italy.
Gianpiero
G
Maracchi
D002980:Climate; D007558:Italy; D012621:Seasons; D027843:Vitis / Q000254:growth & development; D014887:Weather; D014920:Wine
Climate; Climate variability; Consensus rankings; Grape phenology; Viticulture; Weather types