Wine Grapes: Climate Change's Canary in the Coal Mine

Premium wine gapes are very sensitive to changes in weather.

That's why you hear about good vintages and bad vintages. In California most premium wines are grown in a coastal stretch of land running from Mendocino County (about 120 miles north of San Francisco) to Santa Barbara County (about 120 NW of Los Angeles). This is where the climate works well for top quality grapes.

Pinot Noir loves cool, foggy summer mornings

Some grapes like cooler weather, such as Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Some prefer it warmer, like Cabernet Sauvignon. Each wine grape has a climate range for premium quality.

Just a two degree increase in average temperatures could mean half of that land can no longer grow what's there now. Some Pinot Noir vineyards might be growing Cabernet. Some areas will just be too hot. Maybe rain patterns change and some places will be too wet.

Relatively warm wine-growing areas like Spain and Australia could be the big losers. Cooler places like Germany or New Zealand might actually be better off or at least not hurt by warmer weather.

So what's it going to look like in 50 years? Will Napa Valley be too hot? Will Cabernet move to places where you now find Pinot Noir vineyards? Will Pinot move all the way to the coast and farther north?

Of course, that's not actually what we should be worrying about. I'd worry more about ag crops. California's Central Valley, for instance, supplies about one-forth of the country's food crops on 1% of American's farm land. What if this area can no longer grow our food?