Vinifera grapes can be characterized as requiring Mediterranean climates, as occurs in their native range. Concord and muscadine grapes are better adapted to humid, temperate climates, whereas muscadines require longer growing seasons and milder winters than concord types.
 Cold hardiness is a major limiting factor for Vinifera grapes. Damage to primary buds occurs at 0 to -10 F, and trunks may be injured or killed below -10°F. Concord grapes are more cold hardy than Vinifera or French-American hybrids, but will experience some damage at -10 to -20 F. Muscadine grapes are the least cold hardy, being killed at temperatures below 0 F, and injured in the single digits F.
Winter chilling requirement is highly variable among grape species. Concord grapes generally have high chilling requirements, 1000-1400 hr. Vinifera grapes have low chilling requirements, 100-500 hr, and tend to break bud early and are frost prone in many regions. Muscadines have intermediate chilling requirements, but require several weeks of warm weather following chilling in order to break bud; spring frost is rarely a problem with muscadines.
Terrior
Terroir is widely-used and understood to mean soil, but the French-spoken term really mean the whole vine environment, the whole ecosystem - climate, location, and soil.
The influence of terroir on wine styles seems to be most obvious in high-vigor sites which radiply changes both the way a grape ripens and the flavors of the wine. The most documented instance is in Sauvignon blanc, which can range from melon and grassy [low vigor] to bell pepper and jalapeno pepper, depending on the level of vigor. Cool climates also tend to produce more vegetative characters in Sauvignon blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Climate
Climate takes into account a variety of factors: wind, length of day, amount of sun, temperature and temperature variation, difference of day and night temperature, moisture--including the timing of that moisture through the year and its means of delivery (i.e. fog, drizzle, heavy rainfall).
- Location
When speaking of location, one has to take into consideration the land's slope, its relief and its orientation to the sun.
- Soil
Soil is also important to the term of terrior. Factors to be considered include depth of soil, number of layers, type and depth of each layer, the soil's water holding capacity, the soil's temperature, and its chemical composition. Further terroir studies will demonstrate how much influence the actual chemical composition of the soil - pH and mineral content - has on wine flavors.
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