How vintners are maintaining consistent house styles amid climate change 

Some industries—fashion, weapons manufacturing, technology — are driven and defined by change. Others —publishing, the American healthcare system, winemaking — have a love-hate relationship with change. 

Rooted in history and tradition, there is always a rebellious, progressive contingent of these almost clinically staid trades, but they remain defined by a stubborn resistance to change, even when arguably, it’s in their best interest.

That’s stasis is no longer an option though, at least for winemakers. Climate change is forcing the hands of even the most traditional vintners and regions, who must—Siri, please play Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic”—transform what they’re doing in the vineyard and cellar, so that everything can remain the same in the glass.

“It is important to keep our style, always,” says Bodegas Ramón Bilbao’s technical director and general manager Rodolfo Bastida, summarizing the conundrum. “At Ramón Bilbao, we are focused on the perfect balance between fruit and oak. Since 1999, we have been working, improving and developing new techniques to keep that signature of Ramón Bilbao, which is the profile expected by consumers.”

Climate Change in Context 

Right around the turn of the millennium, it became clear that wine country was getting hotter. One study, which tracked harvest dates in Burgundy dating back to 1354, illustrates how temperatures and harvest dates remained fairly steady, until 30 years ago, when temperatures during the growing season shot up, and harvest dates got earlier and earlier.

Vintners across the globe have been reviewing their personal harvest dates with increasing apprehension. Giacomi Sisti, export director for Montepulciano’s Umani Ronchi tells The Drinks Business that they’re harvesting on average, one month earlier than they were 25 years ago; Amelie Dugue-Couillaud, winemaker and co-owner of Les Freres Couillaud in the Loire Valley, says their harvests have moved back 20 days in 20 years; Eduardo Jordan, technical director and winemaker at Miguel Torres Chile, says their harvests have also snuck back about 20 days over a few decades.

“Over the past 30 years, the harvest occurs earlier and earlier, and the maturity of the grapes is higher and higher,” says Émilien Boutillat, chief winemaker at Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, adding that balancing the “fruitiness and generosity of the grapes,” while maintaining freshness and acidity is an increasing concern.

The higher temperatures, as Boutillat indicates, have transformed the chemistry of wine, and changed the taste and composition of wine: the alcohol content alone has increased from 12% in the 1970s to 14% today.

The rate of change seems to be on the rise too: the past 12 months were the hottest on record, ever, with 25% of the earth’s population facing dangerous levels of extreme heat during that time. Nine of the 10 warmest years on earth since humans started tracking temperatures, have occurred since 1998. But it’s not just getting warmer: it’s also getting colder in the winter, often drier, sometimes rainier, with pronounced unexpected events related to climate change, like wildfires and hail storms.

It would be difficult to underestimate the costs. Consider costs in two years in two regions: France reported the smallest harvest on record since 1957 in 2021, a blip that cost vintners $2 billion in sales. Fires in California cost the wine industry $3.7 billion in 2020.

Shifts in Farming

If great wine starts in the vineyard, it should come as no surprise that many growers are trying to stymie the impacts of climate change there first.

“As a company actively involved in farming, we are acutely aware of the impact of humans on the environment,” says José Conde, director of MAN Family Wines Group in South Africa’s Stellenbosch region, explaining that over the past two decades, the team has transitioned to organic, no-till farming practices.

At Napa’s Sequoia Grove Winery, the team has noted a drastic shift in climate, and the resulting flavor of the grapes and wines, in the past five decades. Director of vineyards Jake Terrell says they’ve mitigated those changes by changing how they farm.

“We’re increasing water-holding capacity in the soil with cover crops and yearly compost applications,” Terrell says. “We’ve converted to no-till farming so we can preserve the soil microbiome and create more resistant grapes. We’ve also installed crossarms to shade the canopy and vines from extreme afternoon sun.”

Sequoia also utilizes cutting edge water-sensing technology to determine irrigation demands and target their watering practices to the vines that truly need it.

At Champagne Henriot, cellar master Alice Tétienne says that maintaining house style is foundational to their mission.

“Through the Alliance Terroir project, the House is adjusting its viticultural practices, promoting biodiversity, supporting research and developing new tools so that we can preserve the quality and profile of our wines,” Tétienne says. “Over the last ten years, we have faced earlier harvests with higher sugar levels and lower acidity. To date, this evolution is not problematic but is a concern for the future.”

At Rioja’s Bodegas Ramón Bilbao, Bastida combats the “higher concentration of sugar, lower acidity and unripe tannins” that result from earlier harvest dates by keeping the canopy to protect grapes from sunburn and by looking up.

“Since 2010, we’ve been seeking out new vineyards that we can plant at 450 meters (1,476 feet) in elevation,” Bastida says. “With altitude, the vineyard keeps freshness, higher acidity and healthier conditions. Altitude means more balanced wines, with more potential for longevity.”

Adjusting Blends 

Single-varietal wines are divas—capable of incredible distinction, but limited, almost by definition, in their range. Blends are more flexible.

In Bordeaux, winegrowers are seeing earlier ripening, increased water stress, greater vintage variation, higher alcohol content and lower acidity with modified aromas. To maintain consistent style and flavor in the glass, they are changing up blends, and focusing on reviving ancient varieties, says Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux’s director of communication Christophe Chateau says.

In 2021, AOC Bordeaux approved six red and white varieties that are not emblematic of other wine regions (they would never, Chateau explains, have picked Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, which define the viticultural traditions of their neighbor Burgundy), and are resistant to extreme weather, diseases and water stress, while also maintaining Bordeaux’s classic aromatic and flavor profiles. Right now, the approved varieties—Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Alvarinho and Liliorila—can only represent 5% of the final blend.

Petit Verdot, Arinarnoa adds, is enjoying an incredible renaissance among growers and vintners who find the late-ripening grape can maintain acid and freshness in blends, even in tough vintages. In 2000, just 375 hectares (926 acres) was planted, and by 2020, 1,233 (3,046) was, a 117% increase.

“Varieties like Merlot are being pulled out because they no longer produce a balanced wine,” Chateau says. “In many cases, they’re being replaced with Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc, because they are classic Bordeaux varieties that ripen later and can be harvested with less sugar.”

At Napa’s Quintessa, vintner Rebekah Wineburg says that their blend is also a work in progress.

“We approach everything in a holistic way, and we are farming and doing things in the winery differently to adjust to the changes in sugar and acid, and the phenological and physiological changes we’re seeing,” Wineburg says. “Climate change is the existential crisis of our times. We have a great terroir, so we believe we can make great wine consistently, but to maintain our style, we’ve had to adjust.”

Certain grapes—like Carménère, first planted in 1999 as an homage to the proprietor Agustin Huneeus’ Chilean heritage—and Cabernet Sauvignon are replacing Merlot, which Wineburg still loves, but that she fears lacks the flexibility needed for the future. Of the 168 acres planted, about 5 acres is now Carménère, and about 17 is Cabernet Franc, but she sees that growing as they deliver the freshness and vibrancy in blends that hot vintages require.

Not every winery and region has as much flexibility as they feel they require to deal with the challenges though. Eddy Leiber-Faller, winemaker at Domaine Weinbach in Alsace bemoans the fact that “Alsace, like many wine regions in Europe, is regulated by appellations that are very rigid and take a lot of time to change.”

“Climate change is moving much faster,” Leiber-Falls continues, “so we have to think and adapt at our individual level rather than waiting for the appellations to move.”

In addition to planting more Syrah and Grenache, Leiber-Faller is focusing on blending and co-fermenting.

“We have a lot of different grape varieties in Alsace, and are used to juggling around with them,” Leiber-Faller notes. “We need to grow out of the single varietal bottling model and use this diversity and know-how to our advantage.”

Exploring New Varieties 

In addition to tweaking blends, some winemakers are exploring potential in abandoned, hybrid and under-planted varietals.

While Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are the most closely associated with Champagne, Piper-Heidsieck’s Boutillat says that ancestral varieties like Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, which currently comprise about 0.3% of Champagne’s planted acreage, are being considered by many as ways to maintain quality and consistency amid more extreme weather changes.

He also points to Champagne’s 2023 approval of Voltis, a hybrid resulting from a cross between Villaris and a descendant of Muscadinia rotundifolia, for limiting planting. Resistant to mildew and oidium, it may be one of the grape varieties of the future, Boutillat says.

“At Piper-Heidsieck we planted some vines of Voltis this year and will continue next year in order to be part of larger scale experimentation with the Comité Champagne and to learn and see if Voltis might be also a good answer to climate change,” Boutillat says, explaining that as with every decision the House makes, “our goal is to preserve both the great terroir we have in Champagne and the style and freshness of our Champagnes.”

At Miguel Torres, Jordan says that in Chilean regions previously planted to Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, they are converted vineyards to Petit Verdot, Monastrell, Cabernet Franc, Garnacha, Carignan and Touriga Nacional.

“We selected them because they adapt better to hot climates,” Jordan says. “And we are transitioning classic Bordeaux blends to Mediterranean focused blends, with Syrah, Carménère, Touriga Nacional and Carignan.”

Others, like Pierre Caizergues and Antonin Bonnet, are going all-in on hybrid varieties for their new brand, Pierre Antonin in France’s Languedoc region. The pair planted Cabernet Cortis (a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Solaris) and Souvignier Gris (a cross between Seyval Blanc and Zähringer) on their 11-hectare (28-acre) estate in 2015, and also work with classic varietals like Carignan and Mourvedre.

“We chose the Cabernet Cortis and Souvignier Gris because they were bred in Germany in the 1980s to be resistant to diseases like powdery mildew and black rot,” he says. “They also require less water and they don’t need to be treated with fungicide or pesticide, so that lowers the carbon footprint of the vineyard work.”

Their goal, Bonnet says, was not to “reinvent the wheel,” which is why they are working with Carignan and Mourvedre too, but to find grapes that are more adaptable to climate change and naturally disease resistant, ensuring the brand’s health today, and 25 years from now.

“We selected these two grapes because we love the wine that can be made from them,” Bonnet notes, adding that they embody the disease resistance they were looking for from hybrids, with the classic taste, texture and aroma profile of vitis vinifera.

Adjusting Cellar Work

Subtle adjustments are being made in cellars across the world to ensure that vintages that may be overly generous in terms of sugar levels, emerge in bottle with the restraint and balance wine lovers expect.

“We’re lucky to have exceptional grands terroirs of the Montagne de Reims to work with,” says François Demouy, director of communication at Champagne Palmer. “They have northerly, cooler exposures which results in the unique freshness of our Champagnes. But we have still made a gradual reduction in the Brut Reserve dosage over the past few years to adjust for the increased overall ripeness in the grapes, enabling us to maintain our house style.”

At Quintessa, Wineburg is shifting fermentation and aging practices.

“We adjust temperatures on fermentation tanks and change how long we macerate the fruit, vintage to vintage now,” Wineburg says. “Eight years ago we used 85% new French oak, but now it’s 60%-65% new. It allows us to preserve freshness and let the fruity and savory herbal characters shine through. We also experimenting with different vessels, like clay and ceramic amphorae to see how the fruit reacts.”

Until we find solid ground on climate change—is that even possible?—a more experimental watch-and-see approach than many would like will be the new normal in wine country.