Climate Change and Winemaking

This summer appears to be a repeat of last summer, as once again we are in need of a good soaking rain. In talking to a few people about this lack of rain, they have made the observation that the Connecticut River serves as a "rain break or barrier". Points west and north of the river seem to get more rain than regions east of the river and we are located east of the river. Now that we are back to post pounding, the dry soil has made post pounding a little more difficult.
However, unlike last summer where July was extremely hot and humid, we are having days that are in the low 80s with night time temperatures that can dip into the high 50s. This is good for grape growing as warm days followed by cool nights preserves the acidity that is important in creating a balanced wine.
A friend of mine sent me a link to an online article titled Climate change will leave wine lovers drunker and poorer. The article mentions that hotter summers in places like Bordeaux are leading to wines that now contain around 16% alcohol, compared with 12.5% in the early 1980s. The article also states that by mid-century more than four-fifths of the land in France, Italy and Spain that’s now used for vineyards will be producing grapes unsuited for wine. The hot weather will leave grapes with more sweetness, but with less of the acidity required to produce a balanced wine leaving the wine tasting bland.
Toward the end of this article, I read that French champagne-makers are buying up land in southern England. Here is a map of where grapes could be grown in England as the climate changes:

Where grapes can be grown in the UK by 2080.UK’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, via cees-edu.org
This made me think of our friend, Cameron Roucher, the vineyard manager at Rathfinny Estate in Sussex, where they are growing grapes to produce sparkling wine. They are poised to take full advantage of this impending climate change!