New Year’s Eve without champagne? Climate change may soon make it a reality

For many, there’s no better way of celebrating New Year’s eve than popping open a bottle of champagne. But unfortunately, saying goodbye to the year with a bit of the bubbly may soon become a thing of the past. Why you ask? It’s because of what’s becoming a familiar foe – climate change. Let’s take a closer look: CNN, quoting data from Silicon Valley startup ClimateAi, reported that three grape varieties used in nearly all champagne could go extinct by 2050. The grapes, chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, are just a few of the hundreds of varieties under threat. ClimateAI used global climate models, satellite data and field data to analyse wine growing region. Will Kletter, vice president of operations and strategy at ClimateAi, told CNN, “If we think about champagne specifically, it’s a very unique beverage.” “It requires warm, sunny days for robust flavour and cool nights to build up that acidity, which gives it that kind of crisp, refreshing taste that that we love.” “But as the climate warms, those warm sunny days can get maybe a bit too warm, and those cool nights go away.”

The problem, of course, is something that we’re all familiar with – climate change.

CNN quoted a 2020 study as saying that the regions where wine grapes are grown across the world would reduce by half if global temperatures increase 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The UN has warned that the world will cross this threshold sometime this century if humans don’t clean up their act. If global temperatures increase 4 degrees Celsius, around 85 per cent of these regions would no longer be able to grow grapes. But you don’t have to wait till 2050 to see that wine lovers are in trouble. The famed Champagne region in France, which has been growing grapes and making the drink for centuries, is already witnessing changes. Impakter.com quoted Comité Champagne, the industry’s joint trade body, as saying that champagne yields had come down by 26 per cent over the past 12 years. This, a result of “climate hazards, vine decline and the ageing of vineyards.” “Our vines are becoming less and less adapted to this environment. We are approaching the limit of our ecosystem if global warming continues at this rate,” Felix Bocquet, Moët & Chandon’s director of technical development and sustainable viticulture warned in a Forbes piece. Meanwhile, global wine production, in 2023, has reached its nadir in 60 years. CNN quoted a report from the International Organization of Vine and Wine as attributing much of this to extreme weather events. Italy lost its pole position as the leader wine maker of the world due to many such weather events, the report stated. “This is very much a now problem,” Kletter told CNN. “That means more expensive wine, or maybe the wine that’s produced is not of the same quality, and maybe you can’t even access some of the wines that you’re used to enjoying. And that’s a problem that we’re facing today.” “Anyone who says there is no climate change is lying,” Alexandre Chartogne, from the maison of Chartogne Taillet, told Vice.

_“_In the future, we’re likely to get a lot more ice around here.”

“I think we’re at the turning point,” Charles Philipponnat, president of the family-owned Philipponnat Champagne winery told Reuters. “So far, global warming has helped: harvest in good weather conditions without rain, without too much cold, with ripeness and little rot.” “What’s coming now is possibly over-ripe grapes,” Philipponnat said. “Possibly too dry summer seasons that will cause other problems, that we’ll need to adapt to. We’ll need to adapt our viticulture, and adapt our oenology – the way we make the wines.” Meanwhile, the workers are suffering greatly. Enduring difficult and exhausting working conditions, the persistence of the winegrowers who cultivate grapes on hillsides or at altitude pays off when you taste the results, often marked by a long finish and memorable character. What do Prosecco, Vin Jaune du Jura, Iruléguy, Champagne and Port wine have in common? They’re all made from grape varieties grown at altitude. And while the height of the hills or mountains is totally different from one region to another, the elevated location of these vineyards jeopardizes their very existence. This mountainside environment is claimed to be one of the secrets behind the quality of these wines. On steep slopes, far from the arable land of the plains, vines have to be tough to survive. And that’s what gives them their strength, which is reflected in the grapes. Mountain wines are often long on the palate. Their character is generally the fortuitous consequence of atypical, well-drained land with thin and eroded soils, marked by extreme climatic conditions that make it impossible to mechanize the work in the vineyards. In addition, sunshine is optimal, and the grapes thrive between the warm days and cool nights, helping them to ripen. Unfortunately, if these conditions have contributed to the quality of such wines, these wine-growing areas are now paying the price in the face of climate disruption. In a study published on a scientific platform, iScience, researchers from the University of Padua in Italy point to two reasons for fearing the disappearance of such vineyards. The first is that “the increased frequency of weather extremes driven by climate change accelerates soil degradation,” even though high-altitude vineyards are characterized, among other things, by soils that have already suffered from erosion. Episodes of heavy rainfall also accentuate the phenomenon. This concern is compounded by hot spells, which are all the more problematic when droughts are prolonged, as was the case in Europe in 2022. “These landscapes are under threat by changing climate,” warns the study lead author, Dr Paolo Tarolli. “Managing water for irrigation on agricultural slopes greater than 50 per cent (in extreme situations) is difficult; it costs and requires a very efficient and sustainable strategy.” This problem is all the more complicated to solve since the new generation of growers is reluctant to take on these vines, which are synonymous with harsh working conditions. The study even refers to this profession as “heroic viticulture.” “The last half past century has been characterised by rural exodus and a gradual abandonment of mountain landscapes. The new generation is not attracted to continue working under extreme conditions if economic benefits are insignificant,” the researchers write. With inputs from agencies