Israeli attacks leave at least 20 dead in Gaza
By Rodrigo Santos Andrade
Climate change is putting the squeeze on the world’s grapegrowers: new research
visibility comment0 event September 16, 2026 timer 01:00
Renowned wine regions from Australia to South Africa are battling increasingly fierce fire seasons.
francescomoufotografo/GettyThis year, the European summer has been sweltering. It is unprecedented in many ways, marked by extreme heat, drought and record-breaking fires. Across the continent, fires have consumed hundreds of homes and demanded the evacuation of thousands of people.
Europe’s wine regions have been particularly hard hit, including around France’s Bordeaux region. Aside from the direct dangers of fires, exposure to smoke can give grapes a burnt or ashy flavour, and this smoke taint can discourage people from buying wine from fire-affected regions.
However, it is not only European wineries that are battling increasingly fierce fires. Renowned wine regions across the globe are grappling with the effects of human-caused climate change.
Hotter and drier
Winemakers from across Australia, California, Chile and South Africa are working in warmer, drier conditions than ever before. That also leaves them more vulnerable to destructive fires.
In California, devastating fires in recent years have been exacerbated by a lack of atmospheric moisture, a consequence of climate change. Similarly, in recent decades forest fires have become more frequent in Australia due to global warming.
Our new study investigated what our warming world means for five of Australia’s major wine regions: South Australia’s Barossa Valley, the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Western Australia’s Margaret River region, the Yarra Valley in Victoria, and Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. We analysed rainfall and temperature observations from these regions, dating back to 1940.
Our results show that human-induced climate change has already altered conditions in Australia’s wine regions. Compared with earlier decades, these areas are more likely to be hotter and drier today, including for the peak grapegrowing season around the warmer months of the year. This means winemakers would generally need to move further south or to higher altitudes to chase ideal growing conditions.
Read more:
‘The fire has such power’: why the wildfires gripping France and Spain are off the charts
How growers are adapting
Grapegrowers and winemakers are already adapting to a changing climate.
One approach is trying to use water more efficiently, such as by planting cover crops and trialling innovative irrigation systems. To respond to temperature changes, some winemakers are growing different types of grapes. In Chile’s Biobío Valley, for example, warmer temperatures may mean grape varieties that thrive in heat, such as semillon or tempranillo, grow better than those that have traditionally been grown there, including pinot noir and riesling.
Growers can also shift their vineyards elsewhere. This adaptation strategy was the focus of the second part of our latest study. Using climate models, we identified regions that in future may have the ideal climate for growing today’s most popular and widespread grape varieties.
Our results for Western Australia, for example, show nowhere in the state is likely to develop a similar future climate to what Margaret River used to have. The nearest place would be the Grampians region in Victoria, on the opposite side of the country.
This shows that climate change could lead to the emergence of wine regions in new places, as is already happening overseas. For example, climate change is allowing some English grapegrowers to cultivate grapes previously limited to the Champagne region of France and to rapidly expand the United Kingdom’s wine-making sector. In Australia, climate change could also benefit Tasmania by making local conditions more favourable for wine production.
Read more:
Pass the shiraz, please: how Australia’s wine industry can adapt to climate change
What the future may hold
Grapegrowers are already grappling with immediate climate-related concerns, including whether a particular vineyard will survive a single hot summer or a destructive wildfire.
However, we must must also consider the long-term survival of existing wine regions worldwide. To allow these areas to keep producing grapes and wine, we need to curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Winemakers can also try to adapt to climate change by considering more heat-tolerant grape varieties or relocating to a different region.
Alongside global warming, grapegrowers and wine producers must consider other climate factors. This includes the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a major climate pattern characterised by changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures and winds.
This year, forecasts suggest the emerging El Niño might be the strongest on record by a large margin. In Australia, we typically might expect these El Niño conditions to increase the chance of hot, dry weather in spring and summer, creating more hazardous fire conditions in southern and eastern Australia.
Although this El Niño is loading the dice for an increased chance of hotter, drier weather, it is important to remember there always remains potential for wet conditions in some regions. And this potentially record-breaking El Niño, combined with global warming and hotter than normal global ocean temperatures, means in many ways we are in uncharted territory.
When wine lovers of the future uncork a bottle, they should not have to taste undertones of smoke and ash, or other signs we did not protect our vineyards from climate change. Rather, they should savour the flavour of each glass, knowing growers adapted as well as possible to our rapidly changing climate.
Read more:
How will this year’s record-breaking El Niño affect NZ and the world? 5 things to know
Andrew Dowdy receives funding from the University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council, including as a member of the Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather.Hamish Clarke receives funding from the Australian Research Council.Kathiana Luk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Tags: Academic Journalism, The Conversation, The Conversation Academic News
No Comments
