Global climate change has caused many traditional agricultural areas to face the challenge of floods and droughts, but there are also areas that are profitable. In the past, the UK was not considered a good wine-producing area. Now due to climate warming, the temperature and humidity are rising, and the southeast of the UK is gradually possessing Conditions for the production of high-quality wines have led to the mushrooming of new wine-growing grapes in the UK.
A research report published by the University of Reading in the UK in 2022 predicts that under the current warming trend, by 2050, the UK will become a high-quality production area for Chardonnay grapes. Chardonnay wines produced in the UK will always be champion wines, which was unimaginable in the past. Chardonnay wine originates from the Burgundy wine region in France, and currently the best recognized region is the Chablis wine region in the northernmost part of Burgundy.
Under such a favorable trend, many young people in the UK are investing in the grape wine industry. The Wine Institute of Great Britain (WineGB) stated that the British wine wine industry is growing at an unprecedented rate. A whole new generation of British brewers has emerged.
Ashton Kirby, the winemaker of Reserve Cuvée 2018, the 2023 gold medal winner of the British Wine Association, is only in his early 20s. Three years ago, his parents bought the abandoned vineyard in East Sussex in southeastern England. He took over and rectified it, using The Bacchus grape has become a new winemaking star in just 3 years. He said the warming British climate was now producing grapes that could make excellent wines, comparable to the famous Sauvignon Blanc in France’s Bordeaux region.
In contrast, France, a major traditional wine-producing country, has faced premature frost in spring and severe high temperature and drought in summer in recent years under climate change. Bordeaux vineyards are an exception and allow artificial irrigation. As a result, early harvesting has led to a slight increase in production, which has not yet caused a serious blow to French grape planting. However, if climate change intensifies, the UK will become a good producing area in the future, but France will suffer. I am afraid that the French will be very psychologically unbalanced.
