Cheers to one benefit of climate change – UK red wine
Many people who are stocking up with their Christmas drinks are probably unaware of one unexpected benefit of climate change – the UK could soon be producing world class red wines.
“It is ironic,” said Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox, “that global warming has caused average temperatures in parts of Britain to increase by around IC in the past 40 years resulting in the size of vineyards expanding by around 400 per cent.”
This view was supported by a scientific study which said that parts of southern England could become ideal for making red wine from pinot noir grapes.
In Burgundy this grape is used in making high value still wine and by champagne houses to produce sparkling wine.
But a new climate model by researchers predicted that in the next 20 years there could be a 1.4C rise in the average temperature to around 15C and 16C during the vineyard growing season of April to October in southern England.
At the same time, rainfall could fall over the next 20 years by 10 per cent across much of the south and east of our country and by up to 15 per cent in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.
The study suggests producing wine could thrive in areas relatively untapped for growing grapes such as Oxfordshire, Berkshire, the East Midlands, the Severn Valley and South Wales.
Up to now producing red wine has been possible only in a few places in the UK during exceptionally warm years.
Despite this, the acreage of English wine growing areas has increased in the last five years with 800 vineyards and 195 wineries now.
The UK climate had previously posed risks for winemakers across much of the country with early frosts damaging buds and poor flowering caused by high rainfall and mildew-based disease.
But now English winemakers are being urged to plant new grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Semillon, which have hardly ever been grown in British soil before.
“I agree with the experts,” said Ron, “that planting a vineyard is a 25-30-year investment, so now is the time to planning future harvests of wine grapes.
“In the next 20 years a warmer climate will allow a greater area of England to be able to produce a quality still red wine more reliably.”
The study for the Climate Resilience in the UK Wine sector project was carried out by Stephen Dorling, professor of meteorology at the University of East Anglia, researchers at the London School of Economics, the vineyard consultancy Vinescapes and Weatherques. Their results were published in the viticulture science journal OENO One.
“This is one bonus of climate change that I will raise a glass to,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park.
For more information on green energy, call Ron on 01782 756995.
Caption: Here’s to an even better future for the British wine industry.
