Heatwaves are ruining French vineyards – while English wine enjoys a golden age

Not since the Battle of Trafalgar has the mood been quite so different on both sides of the Channel.

Up and down French wine country, scorching heat – including the 40C highs seen last month – has damaged vineyards and ruined the world-renowned taste of their grapes.

But in the English home counties, and beyond, hotter temperatures have helped produce the highest-quality wine and largest yields ever seen.

Climate change is upending France’s wine dominance and putting the UK in a prime spot to take over.

Metro spoke with experts and winemakers from both countries to explore how fluctuating temperatures are causing chaos in the industry, and what is being done to catch up.

French wine in crisis

For the second year in a row, more than 28,000 hectares of vineyards will be uprooted in France.

The industry there is in crisis, facing a decline in wine consumption, repeated droughts, foreign competition, and rising energy prices.

The nail in the coffin was June’s record-smashing heatwave, which sent temperatures to peaks of 44C.

‘If you look at the landscape, it’s frightening,’ one top winegrower admitted to French newspaper Le Monde.

Grape vines are very sensitive to temperature changes, and produce their best wines within really narrow heat ranges.

Those wine plants in France are used to a warm Mediterranean climate, but now those temperatures are starting to spiral out of control – and with devastating consequences.

Dr Alistair Nesbitt, an expert in climate change and viticulture, told Metro: ‘When it gets too hot, the vines shut down. The soils become very dry.

‘If there is no moisture in the soil, then no moisture is being pulled into the vines. It creates a really unsuitable growing environment.

‘Producers in France and elsewhere are really struggling.’ 

Grapes are also being burnt by the red-hot sun.

Per Karlsson, who runs wine tours in France and worldwide, said a winemaker in the Loire Valley had reported that 40% of their grapes had been burnt in the recent heatwave and could not be used.

The writer said heatwaves such as last month’s are causing earlier harvests and smaller grapes that have lost their world-famous taste.

Karlsson, who runs BKWine Magazine, said: ‘The rapid evolution of the grapes means that the grape juice will be unbalanced and will not have the best balance of acidity and flavors.

‘If the grapes become smaller, which is likely if there is a lack of water, you will get more skin and less juice. It can mean the wine will get harsher.’

Advantage England

As soaring temperatures put French vineyards under increasing strain, they are also turning England and Wales into increasingly favourable places to grow.

Dr Nesbitt, director at vine management service Vinescapes, said: ‘We have seen a really rapid rise in temperatures during the growing season over the last 30 years.

‘Regions that were previously unsuitable are now suitable. That has really enabled these vineyards and varieties to expand and grow.’

The UK’s ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 2002.

From 2004 to 2021, British viticulture expanded nearly 400%, from 761 to 3800 hectares.

These new vineyards have been concentrated in south-eastern and southern England, in particular Essex, Sussex and Hampshire, but have also stretched as far as Yorkshire and Wales.

A landmark harvest in England and Wales last year also saw the equivalent of 16.5 million bottles of wine pumped out.

The English are already excelling at producing popular sparkling wines, which require cooler temperatures than still wine.

‘Thirty years ago, a Frenchman would not have been seen dead drinking a glass of English sparkling wine,’ said Philip Stephenson-Oliver, a wine influencer who has worked in the trade for a decade.

‘Now there are so many blind tastings where English sparkling wine is beating some of the best Champagnes.

‘The south of England is fast becoming a master of producing excellent sparkling wines in the traditional Champagne style.’

In September last year, British company Nyetimber won Champion Sparkling Wine at the prestigious International Wine Awards, the first time the trophy has been lifted by a producer from outside Champagne.

As the climate continues to warm, there is now ‘an even wider range of wine we can produce’, says Dr Kate Gannon from the London School of Economics.

She added: ‘On one level it really appears that climate warming has offered a real opportunity for the UK. A short-term window opened.’

Gareth Maxwell, founder of winemaker The Heretics Wine, agreed: ‘We are right on the edge of being able to make top-class wines.

‘In the wine world, people know England makes good quality sparkling. The thing to follow is good quality still wine.’

That moment is already arriving; an English Chardonnay from Danbury Ridge in Essex won third place in London Wine Fair’s ‘Greatest Chardonnay Showdown’ in May this year.

‘English Rosé is going to start taking on Provence,’ claims Philip.

‘Make hay while the sun shines’

‘Climate change has helped us, but it brings other problems as well,’ Gareth stresses. ‘We are making hay while the sun shines.’

Dr Gannon’s research has predicted many of the issues the British wine industry will face in the years ahead.

Climate change is likely to lead to more extreme weather, including extreme temperatures, heavy rainfall and droughts at key moments in the growing season.

A deluge of rain risks soils becoming waterlogged – just as devastating for vulnerable vines.

Warming temperatures also bring the threat of new pests and diseases.

Dr Gannon said: ‘Climate change will become very bad news for the UK wine sector too, if we don’t find ways to reduce the rate of warming.’

Unexpected temperature fluctuations throughout the year can also wreak havoc.

Dr Nesbitt explained: ‘Vine buds are dormant over winter, and in the spring, when the soil and the air warms up, their buds open up.

‘Then if you have a late-spring frost, those young small buds are very exposed to cold temperatures. It can really injure or kill them.’

The world has 7 million hectares of vineyards. It cannot rely on England, which just has 4,500.

One answer to the challenges brought by climate change is something called regenerative viticulture, Dr Nesbitts says.

It is a method of farming that helps to protect and enhance the soil and biodiversity where grapes are grown, helping the vines become ‘more resilient to heat spikes’.

According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, this can include covering crops between vine rows, compost, and minimal use of persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Dr Nesbitt added: ‘The result is we can store more water in soils and we can build resilience to climate change.

‘It is not all doom and gloom – there is a positive story coming out of this.’

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