Climate & environment

Successful wine districts can become losers

Sofia Eriksson/TT

Published 2024-03-30 08.36

 

Grape harvest in southwest France. Archive image.
1 / 2Photo: Francois Mori/AP/TT

The delicate vines are often likened to the canary in the coal mine for a changed climate.

Up to 70 percent of wine regions could become unsuitable for production if the world misses climate targets, according to a study.

Today's successful wine regions are mainly located in the middle latitudes. There it is warm enough for the grapes to ripen, but not too hot, and relatively dry so that diseases do not spread as easily.

But climate change's persistent drought and more frequent heat waves are redrawing the wine map – a reality producers already have to deal with.

Previous studies have focused on regional conditions. Now a group of researchers wants to provide a global picture of the changing geography of wine by compiling the results.

There are winners

There are winners and losers. Cultivation may become possible in places that have not previously been suitable, while already hot and dry regions will have the hardest time.

Between 11 and 25 percent of wine regions may face more favorable production as a result of rising temperatures. New suitable areas may also emerge at higher altitudes or more northerly latitudes (such as southern Britain), according to the literature review published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.

It looks worse in 49 to 70 percent of the wine regions, depending on the degree of global warming. Here, the researchers see a "considerable risk" that it will no longer be economically beneficial to produce good wine.

- You can still make wine almost anywhere, but we have looked at quality wine with economically profitable harvests, says lead author Cornelis van Leeuwen to the AFP news agency.

Increased diversity

Exactly how bleak the future will be is determined by how severe climate change will be in combination with the opportunity and ability to adapt.

To avoid sunburned grapes, there are simple tricks such as shading the vines. However, increased diversity among the grapes can help the most, according to the researchers.

"There are still hundreds to thousands of different variants and clones waiting to be explored, many of which will have valuable traits for adaptation to climate change," the researchers write.