In the last few months, I've been getting into dry wines (which I've avoided for most of my life but have been making up for list time on), so this really has me wondering what the effect of this on the wine industry is going to be ("this" = not just this specific incident but the whole pattern of climate change).
I've particularly fallen in love with GSM wines from the Rhone, and I understand that these varieties thrive in warm climates, so could one of the silver linings of climate change be a fantastic 2019 vintage for Rhone appellations?
Basically, photosynthesis doesn't work good above 40C. Plants stop making sugars and start consuming them instead.
This is unfortunate for us, because agriculture is basically the art of convincing plants to store as many extra calories as possible.
So there's a major difference between "warm" and "hot" climates.
I've particularly fallen in love with GSM wines from the Rhone, and I understand that these varieties thrive in warm climates, so could one of the silver linings of climate change be a fantastic 2019 vintage for Rhone appellations?