A reason to fear climate change... global wine shortages

CLIMATE change could wipe out more than half the world’s wine-growing regions and threaten supplies, experts warn.

Wine grapes are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and seasons. It means a rise of just 2C could decimate production in traditional areas.

That may help to boost smaller players in the market, such as the UK, but the overall global supply would shrink by as much as 56 per cent, the study claims.

It also predicted that a four degree rise would wipe out production in 85 per cent of regions. Study co-author Dr Benjamin Cook said: “In some ways, wine is like the canary in the coal mine for climate change impacts on agriculture because these grapes are so climate sensitive.”

The US scientists predict up to five new grape varieties could be grown successfully in Britain due to temperature changes, while cooler wine-growing regions such as Germany, New Zealand and the US would be relatively unaffected.

But they urged traditional regions which are already hot, such as Australia, Spain and

Italy, to diversify. Researcher Dr Elizabeth Wolkovich added: “Conversations in Europe have already begun about new legislation to make it easier for major regions to change the varieties they grow.

“But growers still must learn to grow these new varieties.

“That’s a big hurdle in some regions that have grown the same varieties for hundreds and hundreds of years.

“They also need consumers who are willing to accept different varieties from their favourite regions.”

The study suggests that current wine regions could hang on if they change the type of grape they are currently famous for. But it could mean that some varieties, such as Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, are grown further north and replaced with late-ripening grapes such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.

The Columbia University study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that an adaption in strategy could halve potential losses where temperatures rise by two degrees.

They also believe the technique would cut losses by a third if it gets four degrees hotter.