Results: The Impact of Climate Change on the Global Wine Industry

The shift in global warmth patterns may move premium grape growing regions out of areas currently devoted to that activity and simultaneously cause a shift in current grape variety cultivation. Global warming is not uniform: there is greater warming over land, with greater warming at the higher latitudes, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The rising temperatures will continue to stimulate the melting of polar ice and high altitude snow pack which shall not only affect global sea level, but greatly affect oceanic currents, the great creator of global weather and climate patterns. Were you aware of the climate impacts on the Global Wine Industry?

The entire range of grape growing climate zones is about 10° C globally; for some grapes, such as Pinot noir, the range is an even narrower 2 °C. The National Academy of Sciences suggests that the general shift of warmer temperatures poleward will lead to a "huge shake-up in the geographic distribution of wine production." in the next half century. The practical and economic would be monumental. Premium wine producing regions would shift poleward. "Many quality wine growing regions now on the margin for secure wine production will become safe and other regions will be able to expand their grape selection." Some areas would cease production all together. The consequence of this warming will be the ability of Vitis vinifera to "thrive in more poleward locations than it does today," with some areas now perfect for a given cultivar ceasing to be so. To combat this warming, another study suggests a rule of thumb may be to move planting regions one Celsius isotherm further poleward for each degree of average temperature increase. Change, however, would be global. Were you aware that they are now growing wine grapes as far north as Norway and Northen England?

Region by region, climate change would shift wine production, especially in terms of grape selection. By 2100, it is possible that the United States could lose up to 81% of its premium winegrape acreage. In California, warming temperatures and a reduction in fresh water in the next half century may deliver an enormous loss of land suitable for premium grape production, especially in Napa and Santa Barbara Counties where land loss could be near 50% of current acreage. Another study suggests that these regions would be lost completely finding only the narrow coastal bands and the Sierra Nevada left suitable for production. Were you aware that the cost of the 2020 Wilfires in Napa Valley California, came to $3.7 Billion Dollars and of that total $2.8 Billion was smoke damage, to the grapes and wine?

Where grape production is not lost altogether, more heat-tolerant grapes of lesser quality could be plante. In western North American vineyard regions located in cooler climates, such as Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, the lift in temperatures could dictate that same shift to warmer grape varieties, as well. This could prove to be a boon to those regions׳ wine production. Strangely, some forecasts include new regions suitability, including Yellowstone and even the Yukon. Were you aware the Okanagan Wineries have also suffered losses due to wildfires, smoke damage, and a severe cold snap in winter 2022 and again in 2023, and as recently as January 2024?