Cultivated over 7.3M ha worldwide, grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. spp.) is the most important perennial fruit crop economically, with a high commercial value for wines and juices, fresh table grapes, and dried fruit (OIV, 2023). Grapevines are also known for their wide range of pathogens, especially fungal pathogens that are responsible for highly destructive diseases resulting in yield loss and/or vine mortality. Some fungal diseases negatively affect fruit yield and/or quality in the current season but rarely result in carry-over effects or vine death that threaten the long-term sustainability of the vineyard. Other fungal diseases, such as esca, lead to vine mortality and are responsible for vineyard decline. Esca incidence has been increasing globally over the last 20 to 25 years, resulting in important economic losses (De la Fuente et al., 2016; Gramaje et al., 2018).

Despite its long documented history, esca is still poorly understood, the pathogens responsible for esca are not clearly defined and esca remains a complex syndrome (Graniti et al., 2006d; Dewasme et al., 2022). Until the end of the 1990s, it was considered a disease affecting old vines, where pruning wounds of the trunk susceptible to rot, particularly white rot, accumulated over the years (Fischer, 2002; Mondello et al., 2018). Esca is a complex disease involving a series of fungal pathogens, mainly Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Phaeoacremonium minimum, Fomitiporia mediterranea, Eutypa lata, and Botryosphaeria spp., with the entirety of all the microorganisms involved still to be defined (Mugnai et al., 1999; Bruez et al., 2015; Gramaje et al., 2018). Esca symptoms can range from vascular necrosis in perennial wood, which can be reproduced under controlled conditions by inoculation of these fungi, to leaf chlorosis and interveinal necrosis whose causes and erratic appearance in vineyards are still not understood (Laveau et al., 2009; Lecomte et al., 2012; Gramaje et al., 2018).

A major source of contamination in vineyards is annual pruning wounds which serve as entry points for spores, while other studies have concluded that significant contamination also occurs during the plant propagation process resulting in vines that are already infected at planting (Eskalen et al., 2007; Gramaje and Armengol, 2011; Gramaje et al., 2018). Management of the disease is challenging, as complete eradication is unattainable due to the uncertainty of the target (i.e., the pathogen to be controlled), the difficulty of reaching the pathogens once they have entered the wood, and the prohibition of chemical treatments. Currently, the most successful strategy of vine growers is prophylaxis and costly corrective surgery such as curettage or regrafting (Creaser and Wicks, 2004; Mondello et al., 2018; Dewasme et al., 2022).

Several factors are likely contributing to a rise in observed esca incidence, including the global increase in demand for new plantings in the 1990s, the adoption of new plant propagation techniques, the increasing use of selective fungicide, the substitution of more adapted indigenous grape varieties with international varieties, the introduction of new rootstocks, changes in cultural practices, such as training systems, and an increased use of mechanical pruning (Surico et al., 2004; Surico et al., 2006; Lecomte et al., 2012; Gramaje et al., 2018; Guérin-Dubrana et al., 2019; Claverie et al., 2020). Climate change is also evoked as a factor contributing to the rise in esca incidence.

The relationship between esca expression and climate patterns has been analysed as part of numerous studies. In Italy, Surico et al. (2000) showed that cool and rainy summers favour the slow form of esca while hot and dry summers are favourable to the apoplectic form. Murolo and Romanazzi (2014) showed that increased precipitation from June to September along with moderate temperatures that did not exceed 35 °C were particularly conducive for esca. Andreini et al. (2014) also found a positive correlation between rainfall from June to August and esca incidence. Calzarano et al. (2018) followed two vineyards in central Italy for incidence and severity of esca foliar symptoms for 21 consecutive years (1994 to 2014), recording rainfall and temperature, showing a high correlation of July rainfall and temperature with the incidence and severity of leaf symptoms. Gramaje et al. (2018) reported that the seasonal variation of esca foliar symptoms observed in France, the USA, and Australia can be connected to winter rainfall and the temperature in spring, where higher temperatures showed lower esca incidence in general. It also consolidated the conclusions of Sosnowski et al. (2011b) on Eutypa dieback, where extreme air temperatures and soil moisture conditions in potted plants translated to higher foliar expression, suggesting they may play a role as either predisposing or inciting factors. Examining relationships between water deficit and esca has yielded different conclusions—Martín et al. (2019) suggested that moderate water deficits amplified the physiological disturbance from esca leaf symptoms (e.g., decreases in assimilation), while Bortolami et al. (2021) demonstrated that severe drought reduced the incidence of foliar expression of esca overall. Larignon (2009), exploring 6 years of Botryosphaeria dieback expression against monthly precipitation and temperature, highlighted a good correlation between the annual percentage of Botryosphaeria dieback and the rainfall in May. Later, Larignon (2020) generalised that observation for esca with longer-term data from the beginning of the past century.

Nevertheless, the complex setup of climate studies usually limits conclusions. Most studies that are conducted over shorter periods can be used to highlight cultural or physiological factors but fail to reveal relations with climate variables that demand longer time series. The main limitations of the current body of knowledge include the paucity of longer-term data following the same plots, the same vines, with the same methods. Longer time frames are often consolidations of observations made with different methods and even over multiple locations, while some of the more precise observations with consistent methods and locations are not long-term.

The present study aimed at integrating a robust, long-term observational study with reliable climate and pedoclimate data, exploring the explanatory power of climate variables to explain esca incidence. To do so, the study is based on the exploitation of one of the largest and most robust databases of esca incidence to date, conducted for 9 years (following the same 57,000 vines) in the Bordeaux winegrowing region.

Our results suggested both April and July precipitation as important factors promoting esca incidence. The effect of precipitation early in the season has been one of the most discussed climate-esca incidence relationships in the literature. It had been found to be strongest in July of each year by Calzarano et al. (2018). Another study that tried to go deeper on pedoclimatic conditions, Andreini et al. (2014), cited increased “rainfall during fruit growth period” (summation of rainfall from June to August) as increasing esca incidence. Marchi et al. (2006) report that precipitations in May and June favour the foliar expression of esca while Murolo and Romanazzi (2014) reach the same conclusion but by considering a longer period from June to September. A correlation between esca expression and precipitation in May was also reported by Larignon (2009) and later revisited in Larignon (2020) (although we did not find a correlation specifically for May precipitation in this study). Taken together we can generalise the fact that precipitation early in the season has a demonstrable effect on esca incidence.

Regarding temperature, we clearly showed an increased incidence if higher temperatures occurred earlier in the season. This is consistent with Surico et al. (2000) which showed the same correlation, early season high temperatures increasing esca expression. But our study here also demonstrated a decreased esca incidence if higher temperatures occurred later in the season. That observation is congruent with Bortolami et al. (2021) who showed that esca symptom expression was suppressed under drought conditions. Other works have described similar relationships but in different contexts. Larignon (2009) described a positive correlation between Botryosphaeria dieback symptom expression and evapotranspiration early in the season as symptoms increased. Calzarano et al. (2018) observed a negative correlation between incidence and a sum of GDD for periods spanning July and August. In contrast, Andreini et al. (2014) found no direct correlation between maximum temperature and esca incidence from June to August. These results suggest that temperature effects likely depend both on timing and other climate factors, probably most importantly soil water availability and thus vine water status.

In semi-controlled conditions, Bortolami et al. (2021) showed that prolonged water deficit totally inhibited esca leaf symptom development. In this study, we used a calculation of FTSW as a proxy indicator of the water deficit experienced in each plot, each year. Our results are contradictory, sometimes showing positive and sometimes negative correlations between esca incidence and FTSW. This could be due in part to the fact that we do not have a dynamic range of FTSW great enough to robustly resolve any trend (Supplementary Figures 2 and 3). In addition, the fact that we use only punctual end-of-season esca incidence means we cannot resolve within-season temporal relationships. This is an important limitation of this study and future studies that can reveal the precise within-season timing of esca symptom expression relative to climate would be a powerful addition in resolving some of these ambiguities.

In our study, cluster 3 including the younger vines exhibited a lower esca incidence than older plantings. This finding could be surprising because esca is often considered a disease affecting older vines, especially when compared to other wood diseases such as Petri disease or black foot disease (Maluta and Larignon, 1991). However, the youngest vineyards in our study were already approximately 20 years old, being planted between 1995 and 1998 and thus, 13–16 years old at the start of the study and 21–24 years old at the end. Several studies showed that esca decline is associated with medium-young vines which correspond to vines between 15 and 25 years old or to mature vineyards (Fussler et al., 2008; Mondello et al., 2018) and that vines over 25 years old have a lower esca foliar expression but are more affected by eutypiosis. In our study, the “older vines” of cluster 2 were planted before 1995 and mainly in the mid-1980s, so they were already at least 25 years old on average at the start of the study. It would have been interesting to have very young vines (e.g., 5–15 years) included in the study.

Our main limitation however is our lack of understanding regarding other factors acting on the plant material across time. While our study isolated vineyard age as a non-climate-related variable, the high importance given to that variable in our early models explaining esca incidence suggests that future research should be focused on that area. What are other factors that should be added to the modelling when looking at the future impact of climate on esca incidence—whether that be plant material source, rootstock, soil type, treatments used, or other variables? It is clear that other factors need to be accounted for to have a better view of the future of esca risk in the context of a changing climate.

By using data from long-term, plant-by-plant observations across Bordeaux vineyards our results demonstrated strong climate-esca incidence relationships, connecting the foliar symptoms of the disease to temperature and precipitation dynamics. We also showed that this connection to climate differs in strength between plot age cohorts and that younger plantings may have other factors driving the esca expression that are not captured by our climate models. While the older plots reinforce previous climate-esca relationships where esca incidence is well-modelled by climate parameters alone, this is not the case for younger plots. Factors not captured in this study such as the origins of the planting material, grafting techniques, and vineyard management factors should also be incorporated into future analysis and modelling. The relative contribution of climate and these many factors favouring the propagation of esca remains to be determined. Understanding the factors behind the epidemic can promote better strategies to control this disease.