Grapevine production is widespread areas with distinct climate conditions throughout the world. Adaptation to local environmental conditions results from evolutionary processes leading to functional and structural changes to maximize plant performance. Plant adaptation consists in a complex network of environmental sensing and interpretation processes coupled with endogenous environmental mechanisms to control development and generate the phenotypic plasticity required adapt growth and development to the environment. These processes are genetically controlled and post genomic tools, associated to genetic variation studies, help to integrate functional biology knowledge to the development of novel genotypes, generated by the breeding program at Embrapa Uva e Vinho.