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In Bordeaux, Climate Change Looms

Grapes ripening too soon in warming climate

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 6, 2011 6:00 PM CST

(Newser) – The world's most famous vineyards—sorry, Napa—in Bordeaux, France, are being weakened by climate change, the Telegraph reports. Grape vines, especially those refined over years for the making of wine, are notoriously sensitive, and rising ambient temperatures cause their fruit to ripen earlier than considered prime for making top-shelf wines like Lafite, Petrus, and Latour.

Vintners have already switched to genetically-modified heat-resistant grapes, but there are worries they will only cope with modest increases in temperature. "The most pessimistic scenario says that the climate will no longer be suitable for Cabernet and Merlot wines by the middle of the century," said one wine expert. "If climate change comes quickly, things will get difficult for all of us," says a Bordeaux winegrower. "If it comes slowly, we will adapt."

Peter Zavialoff of the The Wine House wine store in San Francisco, samples a glass of Chateau La Tour de By during the Union of Grand Crus 2008 vintage wine tasting in the Garden Court of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011.
Peter Zavialoff of the The Wine House wine store in San Francisco, samples a glass of Chateau La Tour de By during the Union of Grand Crus 2008 vintage wine tasting in the Garden Court of the Palace Hotel...   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Vineyards of Chateau Canon are seen, with the medieval commune and monolithic church of St. Emilion in the background, May 3, 2010 in France.
Vineyards of Chateau Canon are seen, with the medieval commune and monolithic church of St. Emilion in the background, May 3, 2010 in France.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 25 comments
HappyHabenero
Mar 7, 2011 2:50 AM CST
and THAT ladies and gentlemen..is why I make my own wine...if the quality turns out bad then oh well..make more and change the process...BTW Mulberry makes an excellent dessert wine, prickly pear wine needs to age about five to six years, mustang grape has a good kick, blackberry (dewberry down south in Texas) is a good mixer wine, loquat ferments REALLY fast....cranberry is too acid to work....so far..next growing season...fig wine it will be interesting
hopeandchange
Mar 7, 2011 1:41 AM CST
The french have far more to worry about than the Global Warming Bullshit. They turned America against them during 9/11 and are throwing wine out by the lake full because Americans won't touch their crap any more. I don't know anybody that will buy a french wine at any price. They really blew it.
JonmarkP
Mar 6, 2011 9:42 PM CST
Oh this is nonsense - the grapes are spreading this story because they're lazy liberals and they're tired of working.

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