Global Warming Hurts Spain’s Vineyards, Forces Vintners to Move
Today on Bloomberg, Global Warming Hurts Spain’s Vineyards, Forces Vintners to Move.
Global warming is killing vineyards in southern Spain, threatening a 2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) wine industry and forcing grape growers to move to cooler climes of the Pyrenees.
Any increase in temperature in Spain may make it impossible to produce wine in lower areas, according to Xavier Sort, technical director of Miguel Torres SA, the maker of Sangre de Toro wine. The average maximum day temperature in Spain during the summer is 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit).
Wine makers must plan for longer to protect their grapes, because vines can keep producing wine for as many as 80 years and will be exposed to several generations of warming temperatures, said Richard Smart, an Australian wine industry consultant who advises on climate change, in a telephone interview.
Climate change is causing agricultural chaos already. — DS
Technorati Tags: climate change, global warming, wine, Spain
