The wines of Meursault, Montrachet and Volnay could disappear forever as increases in temperature destroy the unique terroirs of Burgundy, a new report from Greenpeace says.
Published last Friday, the report – the first time Greenpeace has focussed on the effects of climate change on wine – offers a sobering prediction.
It suggests that if climate change continues at its current rate then temperatures in France could rise by 6 degrees by the end of the century.
Between 1988 and 2006, grapes harvested on average 13 days earlier than from the period 1973 to 1987.
Between the same periods, the time required for grapes to mature has reduced from 50 to 40 days.
But it's not bad news for everyone. Formerly unlikely regions in Europe, like southern Britain, are already producing prize-winning vintages thanks to the warmer conditions.
Ultimately, however, wine lovers will be more concerned about the report's implications for the fragile terroirs of Burgundy that are clearly under threat. Cataclysmic results are predicted; the possibility of new vine diseases, increased flooding and the greater risk of fruit rotting on the vines.
Concern amongst wine producers and other parts of the sector has been gathering momentum since August 2009, when a group of 50 winemakers, sommeliers and chefs wrote to Le Monde to voice their concerns over global warming to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Their expectations for action at the United Nations summit in Copenhagen in December are high, as governments are urged to push for a strong global agreement on climate change.
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com
Dramatic headlines serve a purpose but I think we must take care not to panic over this issue. There is a human dimension to terroir - the choices that vignerons make every day about wine growing and making - and producer themselves will react sensibly to environmental changes over time. Yes it's true that if the climate continues to change the taste of burgundy, or any other wine, may evolve with it, but what's new? A cursory historical perspective will show that even classic wine styles morph over time. On any analysis terroir turns out to be quite a flexible friend.
Hugo Rose, UK
The difference is how grapes are being trained and grown with different parameters for yields and ripeness. We got a little warmer overall up in to the late 90's but overall temperatures especially winter ones that mean the most have been dropping in the last 10 years. I'm picking 2- 3 weeks later than 10 years ago also. I wish we had global warming it would mean warmer winter temperatures with better survivability of vines. This global warming stuff is a bunch of nonsense, just start using different training systems and you will get the same results or later picking than you used to. I'm getting tired of the lies we are being told in the name of continued grant money and efforts to control and tax us on this nonsense. These Climate scientists are worse than a ouija board. Increased atmospheric CO2 may help with the ripening but CO2 is a weak greenhouse gas and has no ability to increase infrared absorption past 100ppm in the atmosphere and we are 3-4 times that. So it has no physical properties to increase temperatures. Real good for growing vines and other plants with less fertilizer though.
Keith Pritchard, Ohio, USA
Greenpeace must have their moment of drama, or their many moments it would seem: from whales to oil spills, from the Amazon rain forests to the effects of dredging, from endangered species to coral reefs, and now wine. How do they find time to live a normal life when they wake in the morning with the mantra of " I'm so worried about ..." streaming through their consciousness? Answer: they don't. Historically, we have lived (and prospered) through many crises, global warming merely being the latest. I don't supposed it was mentioned that during the 'warming' years between 1988 and 2006 Burgundy has seen some of the finest vintages ever produced. A little extra heat seems to have had a singularly beneficial effect on the wines. Let us not yet despair. The world temperature, reputedly, has not increased for ten years or so. Whether this is significant or not, I dare say the Burgundians will find a way through, perhaps planting on the crown of Corton and other currently inhospitable locations if temperatures do increase.
Sam Chafe, Melbourne, Australia
Sarkozy is more concerned with the legs & arse of women than with the beauty of wines.
anonymous
Here we go again, bumbling Greenpeace fools vying for another fifteen
minutes in the limelight. For anyone who wants the real skinny on
these cataclysmic predictions I suggest some interesting reading:
'useless arithmetic' Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the
Future - By Orrin H. Pilkey and Linda Pilkey-Jarvis. Happy reading!
Cebe, Florida
Regional destruction? Only if it is allowed and I cannot perceive that the young and gifted winemakers of France will permit it. Nothing will be destroyed in Burgundy, but things will change. The old adage of 'Adapt, Adopt, Improve' will, or should be, exercised in Burgundy and in all the wine regions of France. Styles of wine will alter, alternative grape varieties will come into being, people will at last realise that the various appellation laws and their rigid insistence of growers following out of date practices must, at last, be cast aside for common sense. The difficult grape Pinot Noir will, or should be, replaced by grapes such as Syrah. Gamay will, or should, disappear. Chardonnay will achieve a new status in Chablis where the climate has, over the years, been not too kind and the results, often very fine, have been due to the skills of the growers and wine makers in managing to make silk purses out of often very poor pig's ears. The traditionalists will be cast aside for the more realistic modernists. New World methods and quality will be introduced and tired French abandoned. Regions will expand into previously fallow areas. The French wine industry will continue if it permits itself to follow the new ideas that climate change will introduce. And of course, conception is always a lot easier (and more fun) than resurrection.
Here endeth the lesson.
Chris Baker
Register on decanter.com absolutely free for news alerts delivered direct to your email inbox, and our fortnightly newsletter with advance notice of what’s coming up in Decanter magazine, offers, competitions and more.
PLUS registration is a one-stop shop for the Decanter magazine Archive and Decanter Fine Wine Tracker.
