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Jake Naughton

Bichi sources some of its misión grapes from this nearby vineyard in Tecate, Mexico. The vines are thick and gnarly, between 80-100 years old. Unlike more traditional vineyards, these vines were planted in a slightly haphazard pattern, and have been allowed to grow in whatever shape the plant decides. They are dry farmed, meaning their only source of water is the region’s sporadic rainfall. But misión grapes are unusually well suited to this environment. Deep root systems means a much higher drought tolerance, and they also can take heat waves better than other grapes.

Misión vines at the vineyard of Humberto Toscano, who makes wine under the label Casa Vieja, in San Antonio de las Minas outside Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. Toscano’s vineyards are home to Misión vines, which he estimates are 100 or more years old, as well as old Palomino and Moscatel vines. He is the second generation owner of the land, which has been in his family for nearly 80 years.

Misión grapes in their Spanish homeland were attacked by a disease and died out. But they survived in the places they had been brought to by Spanish missionaries.

A dry valley just outside Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe. Baja's native flora is highly drought tolerant, but most grapes need regular irrigation to survive. Over the decades, as the wine industry has grown, too much of the region's groundwater has been extracted. Wells are running dry across the Valle.

Quesada checks the temperature of a fermentation in progress in the cellar at Viñas del Tigre.

Winemakers Jorge Luis Huerta, 31, and Olegario Gamboa, 33, rest between tasks at Bichi Vineyard.

Daniella Villa Cantú shows off a massive bunch of misión grapes during the harvest at Viñas del Tigre, just outside Ensenada, in Baja California, Mexico. Quesada, the owner, says the misión grape requires a fraction (one-fifth by his off-the-cuff estimate) of the water of more common and popular grapes like cabernet sauvignon, and produces triple or more the yield.

Rufina Hernández is one of the many researchers working to understand climate change's effect on wine grapes. She is currently researching the misión vine’s resistance to high temperatures and water scarcity by studying their microbiota and what benefits it might have in preventing some of the species of fungus affecting wine vines in the region.

Silvana Pijoan, a second-generation winemaker in Valle de Guadalupe, bottles piquette, a secondary product from the winemaking process, at the family vineyard.

Silvana Pijoan, 30, who runs Vinos Pijoan with her father, in the vineyard’s bodega.