Hmmm, maybe there’s something to that “Wines grown in England during the Medieval Warm Period” after all. I think maybe the French are upset that Scottish wine might be served with kippers rather than truffles. Oh the horror!
From the UK Telegraph:
Best wines will come from Scotland if climate change is not stopped, French chefs say
Prominent French chefs have given warning that the country’s wines will lose their complexity and the best produce will come from Scotland if the effects of climate change are not tackled.
excerpts:
President Nicolas Sarkozy was posed a stark choice: save French wine by clinching a deal at the international climate conference in Copenhagen in December, or see generations of viticulture slowly die out as vineyards cross the Channel and head north.
“As flagships of our common cultural heritage, elegant and refined, French wines are today in danger,” 50 leading names from the world of French wine and food wrote in an open letter. “Marked by higher alcohol levels, over-sunned aromatic ranges and denser textures, our wines could lose their unique soul.”
Among the signatories were Marc Veyrat, a chef with three Michelin stars, Mauro Colagreco, the award-winning chef, and Franck Thomas, who was voted the best sommelier in the world. The message was also supported by a host of domains from Champagne to Languedoc-Roussillon.
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 two per cent before the end of the century, “our soil will not survive” and “wine will travel 1,000 kilometres beyond its traditional limits”.
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I could handle a Siberian Burgandy. These are red herrings. Rose Herrings.
Before it was the English wines that stole the French show. Why do you think all those London streets are named after wine related things.
Oh wait, does that mean London was once warmer? Why yes, I do believe that is what it means. hmmm.
But if it we me, I would bet the warm will go south, not north.
Zut alors! Oh ze – ‘ow you Eenglish say’ – ze trajedee!
Being Scottish – and who in future may sit down to breakfast with a fine wee beaujolais Auchtermuchty to wash down my kippers, I say bring on global warming!
But, seriously, I’ve never been a wine man. I’m a beer or a ‘single malt’ man.
If even one AGW’er sites this as an authority on global warming, the nonsense about peer-reviewed tomes should die a quick and thankful death.
Of course, even if France adopts the climate change initiatives that are being pushed, they will still lose their vineyards, as well as wrecking their economy. And I have to wonder… we grow wine grapes here in Calif, in areas that are much warmer than the vineyards in France… and Calif wines (much to the annoyance of the French) can be very, very good.
They would do better to begin experimenting with grape vines that acclimate to warmer temps, instead of trying to fight the inevitable. Climate *changes*, it just does. It will get warmer, then it will get colder, as it has throughout history. They should hang drawings of the Ice Festivals on the Thames in their offices, to remind them of the time when it was a bit cooler.
Save the alcohol!!
The French also tried legislating the exclusion of foreign words (eg, le weekend, le hamburger) to keep their language pure.
Didn’t work.
I thought it would be hard to find anyone less able than a musician or actor to give an informed opinion on global warming (or “climate change”, if you prefer). I had forgotten about celebrity chefs (and couturiers, parfumiers, florists, hairdressers, chiropodists, and dog-washers).
It’s really good if wine is grown in Scotland, beause it will taste the same or better, have more alcohol and be cheaper!
Did they mean:
‘The signatories said that if global temperatures rose by more than two per cent before the end of the century’
or maybe 2 degree C?
Since when were chefs, even excellent French chefs, in a position to know what the climate is going to do?
Perhaps this is yet another in the long line of rather pathetic attempts by AGW promoters to tell misleading stories?
Oh, our wine won’t taste right. Our cheese won’t be as stinky. Our waiters won’t be as rude.
add it to the ever growing list of things to blame on global warming
What a bunch of CR-P!!
French “Cap and Trade” regulations must have depleted enough CO2 to affect their grape growth.
WA, CA and BC grapes produce better wines anyway.
IMHO!!!
FYI
Wine Grapes are still grown in the City of Lincoln UK, (Coordinates: 53°13′N 0°32′W) and have been since Norman times The landscape of the nearby Wolds is already being surveyed by Champagne growers as potential new sites
This is a crock. England has grown vineyards for 2,000 years. Even some streets in the far north are called Vine Street. Where I live there have been vineyards for many years – yet England’s temperature has gone up just half a degree. And that’s if the Met Office have given a proper job to adjusting its Central England Temperature for the Urban Island Heat Effect. If they haven’t (and no one here trusts the Met Office anymore) then the temp hasn’t gone up at all!
DERise (09:24:13) said:
Oh, our wine won’t taste right. Our cheese won’t be as stinky. Our waiters won’t be as rude.
That last bit is emphatically NOT related to climate.
Genetics (“nature”) perhaps, or up-bringing (“nuture”) maybe, or perhaps there’s just something in the water which completely neutralizes testosterone.
It should be noted that the bad reputation of “the French” actually appears to derive from the ridiculous behavior of Parisians. The good news is that rest of France seems to dislike Parisians as much as everybody else. Analogous to the reputation of New Yorkers in say Cut-and-Shoot, Texas.
I have actually had older folks in the Midi (where the “french resistance” actually put up a pretty good fight; apparently better water) who, upon learning I was American, offered to buy me a drink. In Paris, that news would start Une Greve; to the Barricades! Bloody idiots.
It’s no good, I’ve checked the diary, checked the calendar, rung my friends, it’s definitely not 1st April, so it must be true!
Really this is an absolute howler! BTW, my vine in Devon is doing ok, but for some reason the last 2-3 years the crop just hasn’t had enough sunshine to bring the grapes to fullness -they’re not brilliant by any means but they taste good but don’t truly ripen until late October! The wine isn’t bad either – my wife says otherwise – anyway after 3 glasses the tv goes fuzzy & I can actually understand what the groovy hip person on there is saying! Seriously though anyone can grow grapes in the UK. A good technique is to build a conservatory on the back of the house assuming you’re generally southish facing, plant the vine outside so that the roots are exposed to the soil & rain water, & feed the stem into the conservatory & hang it on a wire frame. This way you get the best of both worlds!
The Romans had a fort near my home town at Fortingall just north of Loch Tay in Scotland – latitude 56 deg 36 min North. (Pontius Pilate was born there apparently.) I don’t know if they grew grapes there. I can’t think of any grape related geographical names in the area off the top of my head but I’ll put it on the back burner overnight. Interestingly, also at Fortingall, there is the ‘Fortingall Yew’. This tree is said to be over 3000 years old and I bet it has a few climatic stories to tell…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortingall_Yew
tarpon (08:55:43) : English wines
Study the history of England, France, Spain, and Portugal [kings, queens, marriages, treaties (Treaty of Methuen – 1703) ] and so on if you want to know about London’s lock on the wine trade. It has nothing to do with the grapes and wine that was grown there.
Our chefs have degrees in cuisine and in climato-astrology. They can cook like they can predict the (negative, of course) effect of climate change in 2100, on wine, cheese, truffe and puree de pomme de terre.
Alan the Brit (09:50:07) :
“Seriously though anyone can grow grapes in the UK. A good technique is to build a conservatory on the back of the house …”
Absolutely! The greenhouse effect!
… and for this we should destroy our economy for all time …
Looking forward to Greenland whisky ……
Jimmy Haigh (09:51:31) Does that make Pontius Pilate, “Just a Roman in the Gloamin’ by the bonnie banks of Clyde?
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
“Prominent French chefs….”
well i knew the UN, national government’s, most major scientific organisations and respected universities were saying this but i remain a sceptic but if prominent french chefs are saying this then i might just have to reconsider my position.
“more than two per cent before the end of the century”
well i was going to work out what 2% on the kelvin scale was but i could not bother get up to get my calculator to ridicule such a stupid statement.
Funny how if its 20c one day and 10c the next people say the temperature is half.
The vikings named Newfoundland “Vinland” (wineland) 1000 years ago, guess why?