Grape
The grapevine is the signature crop of Mediterranean climates — mild wet winters and hot dry summers. That rhythm ripens the fruit and keeps disease at bay, which is why the world's vineyards ring the Mediterranean and its climate-twins in California, Chile and South Africa.
How it grows
Grape grows on a climbing vine, the fruit hanging from stems trained up a support.
What it’s worth to grow
Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 378 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.
Where Earth's climate suits grape
Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).
Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it
The climate where it grows
— mean monthly temperature ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.
Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop
Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±50° · soil pH 4.5–8.5.
Growing calendar & hazards
A deciduous perennial: it buds in spring, flowers in early summer, and the fruit is harvested in late summer and autumn; the vine sleeps through winter.
- Spring frost. A late frost after budburst destroys the season's shoots.
- Wet & rot. Rain near harvest splits berries and spreads botrytis and mildew.
- Heat. Extreme heat spikes sugar and flattens acidity, shifting where fine wine can be grown.