WEBVTT - How Is Climate Changing the French Wine Industry?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogebam Here could global climate change

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<v Speaker 1>put an end to the centuries old French wine industry?

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<v Speaker 1>Effects on the vineyards might not be catastrophic today, but

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<v Speaker 1>a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change suggests

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<v Speaker 1>that climate change is definitely making its mark on how

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<v Speaker 1>French wine is produced. For the article, this episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on how Stuff Works. Spoke with the studies lead

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<v Speaker 1>author Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist to Columbia University's Lamont

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<v Speaker 1>Doherty Earth Observatory and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, the wine industry is so closely connected to

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening with climate change. We focused on France because

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<v Speaker 1>they've been making wine for centuries and have records going

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<v Speaker 1>back four hundred years about that. To really understand the study,

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<v Speaker 1>you have to understand a little bit about wine making

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<v Speaker 1>and so many things effect what makes a stellar wine,

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<v Speaker 1>from the type of grape and the soil to the vineyards,

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<v Speaker 1>microclimate and elevation. This is a concept referred to as

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<v Speaker 1>the wines terroir in France. This idea of teteroirs and

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<v Speaker 1>the desire to help individual wineries really market and protect

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<v Speaker 1>their products, eventually led to the Appeleichandorjan Controllee system. In

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen five, it was replaced with the appeleiean Doujan protege in.

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<v Speaker 1>This is a French certification system that defines geographical regions

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<v Speaker 1>and regulates agricultural products like wine, and two of France's

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<v Speaker 1>most popular wine regions, Champagne and Burgundy, were named UNESCO

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<v Speaker 1>World Heritage Sites in As you can imagine, the climate

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<v Speaker 1>in each tear war varies greatly in much of France.

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<v Speaker 1>Harvest records have shown that the best vintages have been

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<v Speaker 1>those where the weather included lots of spring rain, hot summer,

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<v Speaker 1>and a late season drought, which forces the vines to

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<v Speaker 1>fruit and mature fast. Wine making is one of the

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<v Speaker 1>cornerstones of the French economy. One point to two billion

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<v Speaker 1>gallons that's four point six billion liters of wine were

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<v Speaker 1>produced in France, up twelve percent over under normal circumstances.

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<v Speaker 1>More than ten million people visit the wine regions of

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<v Speaker 1>France every year, so it's no surprise that the French

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<v Speaker 1>people consider wine making a near sacred part of their heritage.

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<v Speaker 1>In the study, Cook and his co author, Elizabeth Walkovic,

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<v Speaker 1>an ecologist at Harvard University, analyzed climate data, reconstructions of temperature, precipitation,

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<v Speaker 1>and soil moisture, and vineyard records dating back to the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen hundreds. Cook said, but what we found was vineyards

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<v Speaker 1>were harvesting on average ten days earlier, and higher quality

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<v Speaker 1>wines are associated with earlier harvest dates in this region,

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<v Speaker 1>and this connection is still holding. During the twentieth century,

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<v Speaker 1>France has warmed about two point seven degrees fahrenheit that's

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<v Speaker 1>one point five celsius, and continues to climb up. Until

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen eighties, the climate in France was too cool

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<v Speaker 1>to force an early harvest without the extra heat added

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<v Speaker 1>by a late season drought. That seems to have now changed.

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<v Speaker 1>Cook said, today vineyards are achieving these early harvests without

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<v Speaker 1>the late season drought. It's not clear what this will

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<v Speaker 1>mean in the long term, but it's a clear signal

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<v Speaker 1>of climate change. So it's not all doom and gloom

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<v Speaker 1>for the French wine industry by far. In fact, these

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<v Speaker 1>temperature changes have actually been good for many of the

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<v Speaker 1>French vineyards, but that might not hold true forever. Cook said,

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<v Speaker 1>we found evidence that there may be an upper limit

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<v Speaker 1>in how early grapes can be harvested. In two thousand three,

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<v Speaker 1>when a record heatwave hit western Europe and forced to

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<v Speaker 1>the earliest harvest ever in France, the wines produced should

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<v Speaker 1>have been of exception old quality, but they weren't. Cook explained,

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<v Speaker 1>it's worth noting that whether years like two thousand three

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<v Speaker 1>are what we expect in the coming decades with climate change,

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<v Speaker 1>could we one day see French vineyards start irrigating their grapes. Absolutely?

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<v Speaker 1>Might we one day see a Burgundy region san pinot

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<v Speaker 1>noir or a Bordeaux without cabernets. Possibly. Study projected that

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<v Speaker 1>by two thirds of today's wine regions might not have

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<v Speaker 1>climates suitable for the grapes that they grow now. So

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<v Speaker 1>could France be forced to start growing grape varieties that

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<v Speaker 1>are adapted to hotter, drier conditions. Cook said, I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>saying anyone should do these things specifically. What our studies

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<v Speaker 1>shows definitively is climate change is having an impact and

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<v Speaker 1>it might make it very difficult to grow grapes in

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<v Speaker 1>certain parts of certain regions. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article climate change is affecting French Wines or Good

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<v Speaker 1>and Bad on how stuff Works dot Com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Sarah Glin. Brainstuff is production of my heart Radio in

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with how stuff Works dot Com and is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit

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