Strange world: A cheekly little number called permafrost?

Published on Sunday 25 May 2008 22:45

FRUITY merlot from Siberia? As global warming threatens their land, established wine-growers around the world are deploying techniques old and new to adapt. The goal: to stay competitive as progressively hotter summers open up the prospect of wine from regions once deemed unsuitable for growing grapes – including Russia's frozen but now thawing lands and rain-battered Britain.

In France's southern Languedoc region, for example, once-sacred rules against irrigating vines are being relaxed, while growers in the US are experimenting with genetically modified heat-resistant grapes. That's because by 2050, the world's premier wine-friendly zones could shift as much as 180 miles toward the poles, says climate geographer Gregory Jones of Southern Oregon University.

In theory, that will make northern Europe or New Zealand more grape-friendly than France's Bordeaux region or the South Australian valleys.

Climate and market forecasts, and studies of grape behaviour, suggest during the next two generations – not a long time in wine terms – vintage Kent, Chinese or Canadian chablis could occupy as much supermarket shelf space as Bordeaux, Rioja and Napa Valley's finest.