Wine produced as far north as Northumberland and Scotland will threaten the future of traditional grape growing regions, experts have found.
A new global map created by scientists from France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy wine provinces predicts that wine production will be forced to shift from the traditional terroir of southern Europe to the northernmost reaches of Britain.
Changes in global temperatures are set to make mid-latitude regions – such as southern France, northern Spain and Italy, and the New World vineyards of southern California and Barossa in Australia – unsuitable for production.
Areas once considered too cool and wet for viticulture, such as the northern British Isles, southern Scandinavia and the Pacific north-west of the US, will be the winemaking “winners”, according to the study.
Increased heat waves and erratic rainfall could wipe out vineyards from Greece to California by 2100, researchers found.
The map, created by teams from Inrae, a public research institute for agriculture, food and the environment; Bordeaux Sciences Agro, the French National Centre for Scientific Research; and the universities of Bordeaux and Burgundy shows southern Britain as likely to enjoy “improved suitability”, while the north of the UK is designated as a “new wine region”.
At the same time Southern Europe is predicted to face a “high risk of unsuitability” for wine production as the mercury rises.
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