Massimo Tosoni walks through his vineyards, the rows of which stretch like green ribbons under the relentless sun. In the distance, on a hilltop, lies the city of Tarquinia, once ruled by the ancient Etruscans.
“Look at the rows of vineyards,” he said, pointing to the local red Ciliegiolo grape, known for its cherry flavor. “The ground is dry and hard as stone.”
The 73-year-old shakes his head. This is the result of the soil not being watered for too long and the sun sucking every last drop of life, blocking the reabsorption of water.
Italy's vineyards, like much of the world, are suffering from hotter and longer summers, erratic weather and dwindling water.
These changes are forcing winemakers to rethink one of the oldest assumptions in their craft: terroir, the delicate interaction of soil, sun, wind, rain and human touch that gives each wine its distinct flavor, and some might say, soul.
If global temperatures rise by more than 2 degrees by the end of the century, research shows up to 90 percent of Italy's lowland and coastal wine regions – about a third of the country's wine-growing territory – may become unsuitable for viticulture, with similar risks for most vineyards in the world.
Italy is the world's leading wine producerwith its industry worth C$20.7 billion and representing 10 percent of the country's agri-food economy. Before U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on the European Union, total exports in 2024 were a record C$12 billion, driven by premium and certified wines, even as producers faced extreme climate events: drought in the south and hail and torrential downpours in the north.
In northern Lazio, the region around Rome that produces about three percent of Italian wine, Tosoni and his 42-year-old daughter Martina Tosoni, who returned to the farm after working in tourism in Spain, are among thousands of producers already adapting.
The white grapes Trebbiano, Malvasia, Vermentino and Vionere, once harvested in October, now ripen towards the end of August.
“Last year we waited too long and because of climate change, a third of our crops have been lost,” Massimo said.
Italian wine producer Massimo Tosoni describes the impact of climate change on vineyards in a nearby town last year.
Switching to other varieties
Neighboring producers have begun replacing local red varieties Sangiovese and Montepulciano with the heat-resistant Syrah variety, once grown primarily on the southern island of Sicily.
Martina said the biggest threat now is a lack of water, not heat.
“There is a huge leap forward in understanding how to use water efficiently,” she said.
She and other growers have introduced rotational irrigation to prevent water shortages and have upgraded their systems to minimize waste. Young producers like her may also be tech-savvy and better prepared to receive government grants for irrigation and other climate issues.
“I use an app to monitor my irrigation,” she said. “I check it from my room, whereas my father had to get up four times a night to check the filters.”
However, an old, largely abandoned technique of grafting native grapes onto wild vines is proving particularly viable, her father says.
“This row of white Trebbiano grapes is as old as Martina, and there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Reaching out to the community
Martina believes that community is as important as innovation. She and local producers who already have a fruit co-op are forming a wine consortium where they can plan together for increased marketing and vitiourism, a vital form of diversification in increasingly challenging circumstances.
“When management looks to the future like we do, it makes a huge difference. We help all manufacturers, not just one, adapt.”
Kimberly Nicholas, a sustainability scientist at Lund University in Sweden, has studied the connection between wine and climate change for more than two decades and says adapting to a changing climate is now a top concern for every wine producer.
“The biggest change,” she said, “is that everyone in the wine industry understands and accepts that this is happening. This is not some potential future or something that will happen somewhere else.”
Grapes now ripen earlier, at higher temperatures, which she says damages “all the special compounds that make the most delicious wines unique.”
The result: less acid, more sugar, more alcohol—and a flatter taste.
New strategies in the vineyard
Some of the excess alcohol can be removed at the winery. But vineyard strategies work better: stretching shade cloth over the vines, traditional trellises that leave more foliage to shade the fruit, and replanting rows in directions that reduce exposure to direct sunlight.
Nikolay is skeptical about those who offer expansion of wine production in the Nordic countries as part of the solution.
“I don’t think that’s a very smart approach to viticulture in the future,” she said. “The idea that you can just take Napa Valley and move it to Alaska is really naive.”
Even climbing hills or mountains has its limits.
“Due to climate change, plants and animals are losing height,” she said.
Some producers are experimenting with PV solar panels that generate power and provide shade, or reviving some of the nearly forgotten grape varieties that do better in a hotter world.
“Most of the world’s wine production comes from 12 grape varieties,” Nicholas said.
“The wine industry could expand its use of the vast untapped biodiversity and thousands of cultivated grape varieties” to speed up ripening.
Intelligent adaptation
In Tuscany, Lamberto Frescobaldi, whose family has been making wine for 700 years, sees the upheaval as an opportunity for smart adaptation.
Water, he says, is now Tuscany's most valuable resource. He said the region needs more reservoirs, such as Lake Bilancino north of Florence, built in the 1960s, which can release water to support grapevines when rivers dry up.
“In Tuscany, we plant north-facing vineyards and select rootstocks that grow deeper to access soil moisture,” Frescobaldi said. “This is very important in the early years when young plants have shallow roots and need more water.”
His family also plants at higher elevations, where frost and temperature changes can hit unexpectedly. To reduce the risk, they invest in machines that circulate warm air over the vines to prevent freezing.
Their grape mix also changes. Frescobaldi now grows heat-tolerant Vermentino and carefully selects other varieties for their new best niches.
“Every year someone says, 'Oh my God! We harvest Pinot Grigio at the end of July,” he said. “I mean, is the climate changing? Yes. But the real question is, are we planting Pinot Grigio in the right place now?”
Inevitable change
However, these adaptations are destroying centuries-old traditions and straining the Italian economy. Controlled and guaranteed designation of origin (Controlled and Guaranteed Appellation of Origin), a legal framework designed to preserve the regional identity of each wine.
Wine styles and traditions are bound to change, Kimberly Nicholas said, and that loss has already begun.
“I have a bottle of Pinot Noir left over from when I got my PhD and I don’t know if I’ll ever bring myself to drink it because that flavor is disappearing from this Earth and I’m not sure I’ll ever find it again.”
