Welcome to the grape glen

If the image of foodies sipping Riesling from vineyards in Loch Lomond or a pinot noir from the Borders is too much for Scots, some of whose current relationship with wine is more likely to be quaffing its fortified cousin, they will be surprised to discover that French chefs and sommeliers have written to President Nicolas Sarkozy alerting him to Scotland's threat.

The concern is that if France does not do more to halt climate change, the nation's vineyards will die out and be replaced by new wine-producing regions including Scotland. Fifty leading names in the world of French wine and food have now written an open letter to the President to raise this concern.

Climate change has been blamed for degrading French vineyards, with heatwaves, giant summer hailstorms in Bordeaux and new plant diseases. The signatories said that if global temperatures rose by more than 2 per cent before the end of the century, "our soil will not survive" and "wine will travel 1,000 kilometres beyond its traditional limits."

In a short film, Jean-Pierre Chaban, a climatologist at France's National Institute for Scientific Research, says: "We will have new wine-producing regions in zones where one doesn't normally cultivate vineyards, like in Brittany and Normandy. It will spread to Great Britain. One can imagine vineyards in southern Sweden and Scotland."

While there are as yet no vineyards in Scotland, vine cultivation in England has risen by 45 per cent to 416 vineyards.

The ideal climate is a long warm summer that allows the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly with a dry, sunny autumn leading up to the vintage with an average temperature of 60C.

Julie Trustram Eve, from English Wine Producers, said: "There are as far as we know no vines yet in Scotland, although there have been rumours. It's gradually creeping up. It depends how accurate the predictions are for the long term, but some say by 2080 it will be too hot to grow grapes in southern England."

Oz Clarke, the wine expert and television presenter who toured France, California and Britain educating James May, theTop Gear presenter, on the bounty of both grape and grain will raise a glass to Scotland's prospects. He said: "Experts say the increase in average growing temperatures will be between 2-4C. In which case, the whole of Scotland will be transformed for the better in terms of grape growing. Loch Lomond, for example, could be producing a decent riesling. Its lovely long south-west facing slopes have a similar shale and granite soil structure to the mosel in Germany, which is producing the most heavenly wine at 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent alcohol at the moment."

Richard Selley, emeritus professor of geology at Imperial College and author of The Winelands of Britain: Past, Present and Prospective, has suggested that the north shore of Loch Ness, with its south-east-facing slopes, fluvial-glacial sand and gravel and sun-reflecting water could be perfect for grapes. While David Austin, group wine expert at Hotel Du Vin, which has 400 wines in its cellar, said the idea wasn't a joke. "A friend of mine has planted a vineyard in North Yorkshire. He has planted pinot noir as he thinks in 25 years it's going to be big. So we're getting closer. There is no reason why the Scottish Borders, which has a fantastic landscape, soft rolling hills and beautiful south facing hills and places that vineyards would be perfect."

Ron Gillies, owner of Cairn O Mohr wines in Perthshire, has been making wine for the past 25 years, but not with grapes. He said: "As to global warming and the prospects for vineyards popping up this far north, who knows? Will we make grape wines? Maybe as a novelty."