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An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of different levels of water stress and different irrigation systems to the vegetative and reproductive behaviour of 'Cabernet Sauvignon'/140Ru, vertically trained, during the growing season 2003-2004. The vineyard was located in Sicily (in the south of Italy); the soil was loamy-sand and the climate semi-arid. Were compared five treatments: four treatments irrigated, maintaining a moderate water stress level, by drip irrigation (T1) and sub-irrigation (T2, T3 and T4) and one non-irrigated treatment (T5). The sub-irrigation treatments were different by the number and the distance of the water tubes by the rows of vines. The results showed that, in a loamy-sand soil and in a semi-arid region as Sicily, irrigation with a moderate water stress level has a better combination of grape quality and yield than no irrigation. Irrigated vines had higher water use efficiency with sub-irrigation systems; moreover it seems that distributing water further away from the rows (T3 and T4) stimulate higher reproductive activity than distributing water below the rows (T2).