Scientists Link Early Grape Ripening To Human-Induced Climate Change

By using decades of vineyard records, scientists have for the first time been able to attribute the early ripening of wine grapes to climate warming and declines in soil water content.

AsianScientist (Feb. 28, 2012) – By using decades of vineyard records, scientists have for the first time been able to attribute the early ripening of wine grapes to climate warming and declines in soil water content.

The study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, reveals that management factors have also influenced the shift, offering hope for growers to develop adaptation strategies.

“In some wine-growing regions such as southern Australia, grape maturation dates have advanced about eight days per decade, with earlier maturing potentially impacting wine-grape quality and regional branding,” said lead author Dr. Leanne Webb from the University of Melbourne and CSIRO.

For this study, the researchers analyzed harvest diaries from ten winegrowing sites in southern Australia for periods of up to 64 years. In contrast to previous studies that use harvest dates to indicate grape maturity, the research team examined berry-sugar concentration records to detect the trends to earlier wine-grape ripening.

On average, the scientists found that over the period from 1985 to 2009, nine of the ten sites had trends to earlier ripening, which were equally attributable to climate warming, declines in soil water content, and lower crop yields.

Human-induced climate change is a driver of this grape response, the scientists said, given that previous studies have linked Australian temperature and possibly rainfall to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.

Changes to the timing of biological phenomena such as flowering and emergence of butterflies have been similarly noted on many continents over recent decades, Webb noted.

“The study will give wine growers a head start in developing adaptation strategies to meet evolving temperature and soil moisture shifts,” Webb said.

“These strategies could include managing soil moisture content through increasing irrigation or mulching, vine rootstock choice, or managing crop yield,” she added.

The article can be found at: Webb LB et al. (2012) Earlier wine-grape ripening driven by climatic warming and drying and management practices.

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Source: University of Melbourne.
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