With the cultivar Chardonnay grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) as material, the methods of paraffin section and CFDA dye labeling were used to observe the structure of grape berry and the cell death in grape berry skin, berry quality and relative physiological indexes were also measured, in order to make clear the effects of sunburn on grape berry quality and berry structure. The results showed that: (1) The sunburn of berry was characterized by light brown lesions from initial phase, and then the lesions increased in size and depth of color with the increasing of sunburn severity. For the severe sunburn in chardonnay grapes, the dark brown lesions were seen and associated with cell death in the berry skin. (2) When the berry was damaged by sunburn, berry firmness and water contents decreased, but the cell wall contents increased. The epidemic cell size of grape berry with sunburn was smaller than that with no sunburn, but the epidemic cell wall of sunburn berry was thicker than that with no sunburn. (3) With the increase of sunburn severity, the epidemic cell wall broke, and the cell activity decreased. Due to the loss in protecting function of berry skin, the grape berry shrunk gradually with the increasing of sunburn severity. In addition, for the grape berry with severe sunburn, the xylem vessel in dorsal vascular bundle cracked. (4) The occur of sunburn was associated with the water loss of grape berry, TSS (total soluble solids) and total sugar content of grape berry increased, but the content of organic acids decreased. Sunburn induces the changes in grape berry anatomy and disorder of physiological function, with the increase of sunburn damage to berry, the cells of berry skin died gradually. Because of water loss in grape berry, the TSS and sugar contents also increase in grape berry, but the impacts of sunburn on the wine quality should be further studied for the wine grape production.