Why global warming is a menace to merlot

MOST people have their favourite tipple, whether it is a silky pinot noir or complex cabernet sauvignon.

But they may have to start getting used to opening a bottle of lesser known wine on a Saturday night instead.

A study suggests that, relatively soon, people could have to switch the wine they drink to varieties grown from grapes more resistant to climate change.

Researchers, led by the University of British Columbia in Canada, worked out that 56 per cent of wine-growing regions could be lost if temperatures rise just 2C, which may happen in 30 years.

But that could be more than halved, to 24 per cent, if both consumers and vineyard owners changed their choice of drink.

A pinot noir from the Burgundy region of France may be under threat in future as the grapes ripen early and are exposed to the summer heat. So people may have to start considering late-ripening varieties such as syrah or grenache. Meanwhile those who enjoy a bordeaux based on merlot and cabernet sauvignon may be advised to swap it for a lesserknown mourvedre. However there is likely to be more of a choice of wine from a warmer Britain, which could start producing more of its own chardonnay, pinot noir and riesling. Dr Inaki Garcia de Cortzzar-Atauri,

a co-author of the study from the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, said: ‘Just ten varieties make up half the wine produced globally, when around 300 are produced in Italy alone.

People need to start trying new types of wine, so that growers can trial different kinds of grapes to see how they respond to climate change. Towards the end of the century, we could be seeing certain wine grapes ripening ten weeks earlier, and so vineyards have to adapt.’

The study looked at 11 popular varieties of wine, and using longterm records, they modelled how grapevines bud, flower and ripen, using climate change projections to forecast where specific types could be grown in the future.

In Bordeaux, if temperatures rose by 4C, the cabernet sauvignon grapes could ripen almost a month earlier, making them almost impossible to grow there. But the US could see its wine-growing areas double, and New Zealand might see a rise of 60 per cent.

The UK, currently seen as unsuitable for all 11 varieties in the study, is tipped to be a significant region for five wines, including sauvignon blanc, riesling and chasselas.