Climate change is transforming wine. We’ve seen devastating wildfires threaten or destroy recent harvests in California, Australia, Chile and Portugal; harsh winters decimate vineyards in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and the Eastern United States; and spring frosts, an age-old enemy of vignerons, become increasingly menacing as warmer average temperatures nudge vines to send out their tender shoots earlier in the spring.
Column by Dave McIntyre
It might seem strange to suggest that climate change has produced any winners, but if we look to higher latitudes and higher altitudes, we find surprises. It’s hard to imagine England’s delicious sparkling wines rivaling Champagne’s without an increase in average temperatures in recent decades. Colder regions where grapes have traditionally struggled to ripen are enjoying more consistent results.
Germany is another oft-cited example. Rising temperatures shorten the growing season, so the traditionally late-ripening riesling reaches maturity earlier, making it less vulnerable to the onset of colder weather in the fall. While the grandfathers of today’s winegrowers may have experienced two or three above-average or exceptional vintages per decade, that level of quality is more consistent today. We consumers can taste with more confidence, without stressing over vintage variation. There is also growing excitement over German red wines and chardonnay. (The country’s wine regions have also felt the flip side of climate change, with destructive floods in 2021, drought in other years, frigid winters and devastating spring frosts.)
In March, I attended Grands Jours de Bourgogne, a week-long trade fair held every two years to highlight that famous French wine region. (English-speaking attendees were asked to use the French name rather than the Anglicized “Burgundy,” which, as a color, translates back into French as “bordeaux.”) Effects of climate change were most evident in the north of the region. Wines from 2022, a warm vintage, were on display. Chablis, where chardonnay thrives on a knife’s edge of cool-climate acidity, were riper than normal. Not bad by any means, but lacking their usual energy.
Meanwhile, wines from Chablis’s less-heralded neighbor appellations were exciting. Bourgogne Côtes d’Auxerre, Chitry, Irancy and Saint-Bris offered vibrant whites from chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, and bright, fruity and earthy reds of pinot noir. At a tasting in the cloister of the abbey of Saint Germain, in the city of Auxerre, a fellow writer who regularly attends these events marveled, “This is the best these wines have ever been!”
Is it a warming climate? Improved viticulture? A lucky vintage? Probably all of the above. Unfortunately, most of the wines I tasted are not in U.S. markets. (Importers, take note!) Domaine Felix has three U.S. importers (though none in the D.C. area), while Domaine Sorin Coquard reaches shelves in New York and California. The gentleman pouring a racy chardonnay by Bailly Lapierre, a co-op best known for sparkling wines, had just two words for me: Trader Joe’s.
But the winery website doesn’t even mention that it makes still wines, and a search of the Trader Joe’s website proved fruitless.
Throughout the week, I heard buzz about the pinot noir from the Hautes Côtes de Nuits and Hautes Côtes de Beaune, areas on higher slopes or just over the hill from the storied grand cru and premier cru vineyards of the Côte d’Or. For whites, Saint-Romain and Saint-Véran are two minor regions poised to gain prominence as the climate warms.
Frédéric Drouhin, head of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Beaune, told me that his family-owned winery had recently purchased vineyards in both Saint-Romain and Saint-Véran, including some from longtime suppliers.
“These areas are typically cooler than the heart of the Côte d’Or and can struggle in some years, so we are seeing more consistent quality and richness the past several vintages,” Drouhin said.
The famous wines of Bourgogne remain largely aspirational in price and availability. These lesser-known areas offer value and increased quality. Wines from the Hautes Côtes, Saint-Romain and Saint-Véran typically retail between $25 and $40, while Côtes d’Auxerre, Chitry, Irancy and Saint-Bris are less expensive.
There are opportunities elsewhere, too. Gabriele Gorelli, Italy’s first master of wine, argues that Italian wines in general are becoming “more approachable” because of a combination of increased ripeness from the warming climate and stylistic changes by winemakers. He is especially excited about “mountain nebbiolo” from higher-altitude vineyards in northern Piemonte or from Valtellina, a mountainous area of Lombardy better known for ski resorts than wine.
“Valtellina is not really a category, but it should be,” Gorelli said. “The wines are chillable, super drinkable and interesting.”
Here at home, Napa Valley vintners wonder whether cabernet sauvignon will be sustainable in the long term. Meanwhile, hybrid grapes gain favor in other parts of the country because they require fewer chemical treatments than European vinifera varieties. Some of these are new varieties developed to be hardy in severe winter conditions and northerly climes. They won’t be in wide distribution, but if you’re traveling, keep an eye out for local wines made from marquette, frontenac, frontenac gris, regent, louise swenson, brianna, chardonel and other grapes. You’ll find these throughout New England and the Midwest where you might not expect local wine, but, with climate change rewriting wine’s atlas, you may be pleasantly surprised.
