We get to meet many people on the wine trade, including wine makers and vineyard representatives. In recent years, these people have all expressed a consistent worry: Climate change is changing the conditions in which wine is made and, in some cases, the wine itself.
Wine grapes love warm, sunny weather. They detest frosts once the vines begin to bud. Of course, they want to be watered by gentle rainfall, but only at certain times of the year, in spring and summer. But not at harvest time! Yes, changing climate changes are making for hotter days over longer periods. But it is also resulting in unexpected cold in the spring months and long-lasting deluges at, so it seems, all the wrong times.
Photo courtesy of AccuWeather.
Hotter summers lead to greater sugar content in the grapes, which in turn can be harvested sooner. These sugar-laden grapes produce wines with higher (and ever higher) alcohol levels, but without the acidity slower ripening would produce. When tasting wines in the year or two after scorching summers, visitors to wineries should be alert to power-hitting wines that seem to lack any liveliness on the tongue.
We are not yet seeing great wines coming from northern-most climes. There’s no reason to expect great Norwegian wine anytime soon. But the temperatures are changing the grapes used in some familiar wines. For example, Merlot is becoming more prevalent in Left Bank Bordeaux wines, where Cabernet Sauvignon has reigned for centuries. Moreover, the Bordelais are now allowing the use of new grapes such as Marselan and Touriga Nacional in addition to the traditional five (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec). So what winery visitors will get in the glasses in coming years may be significantly different than the Bordeaux wines as they have been, even in recent years.
And it’s not just heat. Earlier springs lead to bud break in months that can still experience cold snaps and frost. As recently as 2022, there have been damaging frosts in California’s most famed grape growing areas, to say nothing of those affecting Oregon, Washington and British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Add to that the flooding that occurs when sudden spring warmth melts the mountains’ snow pack. Russian River suffers from these floods often; January of 2019 saw a record crest in that river as well as floods almost as high in 2023. Wine tasters should plan their travels accordingly.
All of this is to say that for those of us who love well-made wine and visiting wineries for tasting had better be aware of what changing weather patterns are doing to vineyards and wines. It is possible that there will be better wines in the future from places that are unanticipated at present. But there is more to great wine than great grapes. It took generations and fortunes to make Bordeaux, Tuscany, Rioja and Napa Valley wines and wineries what they are today. Speaking for ourselves at Power Tasting and, we’re sure, for our readers as well, we don’t have the time to wait for superb wines to come from Trondheim.