Research In Focus - Climate Change Altering Profile of European Wine Sector

(Just-Drinks) - Climate change has significant implications for Europe's wine industry, according to a new just-drinks report. However, while rising temperatures are creating stern challenges for some of the region's most established wine-producing areas, production is becoming possible in northern regions where hitherto viticulture was not commercially viable. Ben Cooper reports.

As the claims regarding microclimates made on behalf of individual geographical denominations or wine estates appear to underline, even marginal differences in climate can have a significant impact on the character and quality of wine. By extension, major shifts in regional or global temperatures are likely to produce significant changes across an entire wine region, and so it is proving in Europe, according to a new just-drinks report.

Citing research carried out at the University of Southern Oregon, the report, entitled The Post Recessionary Face of the West European Wine Market, notes that the average growing-season temperatures in some 27 prime wine-producing regions around the world has risen by 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 50 years. Some warmer regions are already reaching a threshold beyond which wine quality begins to decline and, the report states, "the dramatic decline is predicted for Europe".

However, at the same time, rising temperatures are creating opportunities for smaller established European wine producers like Austria, as well as for other countries in northern Europe with little in the way of wine-producing tradition, such as Denmark, England and even Finland. "Whilst the future of wine growing countries in the south of the region, including Greece and Portugal, are threatened by climate change, those further north are benefiting," the report states.

The shift of the "wine production frontier" northwards could provide some of the most striking outcomes of climate change, according to the report. While 50° N has been traditionally considered the northernmost latitude for successful viticulture, this limit is now being reappraised.

"Historically, Germany had been at the northern limits of wine production, where the grapes have struggled to achieve ripeness," the report states. "Now that warmer temperatures are coming more frequently, the wine production frontier has shifted further northwards into countries where the growing of vines was previously considered unimaginable."