Climate Projections for Pinot Noir Ripening Potential in the Fort Ross-Seaview, Los Carneros, Petaluma Gap, and Russian River Valley American Viticultural Areas

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The work presents a detailed analysis of the potential effect of increasing temperatures along the century under two climate change scenarios on Pinot Noir cultivar, in several American Viticultural Areas. There is a good view of the state of art and of the characteristis of the selected areas. The methodology is well described. The mansucript results quite large, but all figures and tables are justified. I suggest some minor revision in the following points.

- In order to better undertand how the 240g/L is reached, section 3.3.1 should  be commented at the beginning of section 3.3, before giving the dates at which that value was reached.

-The sentence on line 416 should be revised. The percentages given are difficult to understand.

 -There are two sections with the number:

3.3.2. Spatiotemporal distribution

3.3.2. Comparison of reported harvest dates with GSR model calculations (it should be 3.3.3.)

- In lines 445-446 , it is said that “The spatial patterns that were observed in Figure 2 and Figure 3 for the GST climate index are also seen in Figure 5 and Figure 6” .It is logic, as the dates to reach the sugar threshold is based on accumulated GDD. Perhaps it could be good to go directly to describe the observed in Figures 5 and 6 and avoid the reference to Figure 2 and 3. The relationship between GST and GSR is further explained.

-          As it can be seen in Figure 1, there are differences in elevation within each AVA. Some comment in this respect could be included in the result discussion. Probably authors could have found diffenerences in the projected temperaturas not only in the average for the AVA but also within the each of them.

- Lines 579-581. It could be better to explain what is represented in figures 7-11 before citing them ( they were already referred in line 573). The explanation should be at that point.

- Line 588. I suggest to start the sentence by “The fitted quadratic….. “and then after September citing figures 7-11 (in brackets).

- I suggest revising the conclusions and not repeating a summary of the work or a description of the results. In addition to the projected changes to the GST index, more emphasis should be placed on the projected advance in the date when sugar thresholds may be reached as well as the proportion of area that may be affected in the various AVAs (this information that is in the suplementary material and commented in the text, could probably be the most interesting for vinegrowers).

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

 The article is well structured, and all key elements are present. The title clearly describes the article. The abstract content clearly reflects the entire content of the article.

In the introduction paragraph, the authors clearly present the investigated problem, provide sufficient background, and include relevant references for the paper topic. I think the paper’s aim should be more concise and clearly presented.

The paper is well writer and the methods used scientifically appropriate. I appreciated the large amount of data analyzed, which allowed high accuracy of the research results.

Results are clearly presented and discussed. The results of this study are very important nowadays because, with climate change, provide producers a better projection for Pinot noir ripening potential and the opportunity to evaluate alternate cultivars in their viticultural areas for changes regarding winemaking and wine profile.

The conclusions are supported by the clearly presented results.

References are appropriate.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx