CLIMATE CHANGE and WINE
IT’S NO secret that the future of the wine industry will be impacted by climate change, but the effects are already becoming visible as the taste of fine wines like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is under immediate threat from rising temperatures. Grapes used in wine production in France, Spain and Italy are growing faster than usual due to higher temperatures, subtly altering the flavors that are developing. The impact is varying tastes of vintage wines from year to year, and the risk of a higher alcohol content in each glass. Kimberly Nicholas, a wine industry consultant, has warned that vineyards are increasingly struggling to know the perfect moment to pick the grapes to retain a wine’s signature taste. “Climate change is beginning to affect the singular flavors that people expect from different wines – the experience you come to know and trust from your favorite reds and whites”, she said in her study. Nicholas, who is associate professor of sustainability science at Lund University in Sweden, said sugar levels rise and acidity drops as a grape ripens, and winemakers aim to find the ideal ratio when they pick the fruit. She said this moment, after around four months, is usually the time when the flavor of the grape is best as well, but changing temperatures are affecting that match. “As the atmosphere warms, the desired ratio of acid-to-sugar occurs earlier in the season”, she wrote. “The optimal flavor moment may occur earlier too – but not as much – leaving a gap between the ideal sugar-to-acid ratio and the ideal flavor.” Nicholas also warned the grapes, used for some of the world’s finest wines, could lack color when they ripen faster.
The wine industry has already started to adapt, with vineyards in California and southern Europe dropping Pinot Noir grapes for varieties that are able to tolerate higher temperatures. Turkish scientists Dr. Burcu Ozturk and Dr. Ertan Anli have suggested vineyards try “double harvesting” of grapes to get the acid and sugar ratio right, and consider other techniques to combat the effects of rising temperatures. “Slopes shaded by mountains or having fewer sun exposures should be preferred since they have a tendency to be cooler”, they wrote. “Furthermore, the fields exposed to wind are appropriate for controlling the sugar accumulation by lowering the environmental temperature.”
In the UK, expert Dr. Richard Selley has predicted a dramatic increase in wine production in the next fifty years due to global warming, with vineyards flourishing in northern England and Scotland. “Back in the 198Os we were planting Germanic grape varieties that thrived in cooler climates but now they are being replaced by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier”, he said. “Eventually it will be the turn of Scotland.” However, he has said traditional British vineyards in the southeast may find their land is only fit for raisin production by 2O8O.
