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We review the photosynthetic responses to drought in field‐grown grapevines and other species. As in other plant species, the relationship between photosynthesis and leaf water potential and/or relative water content in field‐grown grapevines depends on conditions during plant growth and measurements. However, when light‐saturated stomatal conductance was used as the reference parameter to reflect drought intensity, a common response pattern was observed that was much less dependent on the species and conditions. Many photosynthetic parameters (e.g. electron transport rate, carboxylation efficiency, intrinsic water‐use efficiency, respiration rate in the light, etc.) were also more strongly correlated with stomatal conductance than with water status itself. Moreover, steady‐state chlorophyll fluorescence also showed a high dependency on stomatal conductance. This is discussed in terms of an …