Climate change triggers early grape ripening

Climate change is causing the early ripening of grapes, latest research shows.

Scientists attribute the fruit’s ripening to climate warming and a decline in soil water content, based on a comparison of decades of vineyard records.

Climate scientist and viticulturist Leanne Webb from the Melbourne’s School of Land and Environment said that a detailed study of the underlying causes has been undertaken for the first time, the journal Nature Climate Change reports.

“Changes to the timing of biological phenomena such as flowering and emergence of butterflies have been noted on many continents over recent decades,” Webb said, according to a School statement.

“In some wine-growing regions, grape maturation dates have advanced about eight days per decade, with earlier maturing potentially impacting wine-grape quality and regional branding,” said Webb.

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

“This study analysed harvest diaries from 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,” said Webb.