Climate change is triggering a shift in Europe’s wine landscape: Climate change-induced warming and advancements in grapevine cultivation are creating an opening for colder European territories to enter the winemaking global industry, the Financial Times reported last week. The number of vineyards in Denmark — previously thought to be too cold — has doubled over the past decade while production has tripled as the country’s weather today becomes comparable to that of the 1960s’ France. The trend has also extended to England, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia — all emerging as possible big players — due to warmer summers.

Wine experts are rethinking everything they know: Due to the shifting wine landscape, experts are forced to reexamine all they know about “terroir” — a French term used to describe a crop’s specific growth habitat which determines a wine’s identity in terms of taste and layers. As colder regions warm and can now compete, warmer regions like Bordeaux and Rioja struggle with hot weather, overripe grapes, and water shortages.

Faced with hard decisions: Traditional wine regions will have to reassess their strict production criteria to keep up with the new climate reality. Growers will have to add new grape varieties or begin irrigating more vines, said climate and phenology expert Elizabeth Wolkovich, but many worry that such adaptations threaten the wine’s identity which could start “to lose its character and become less interesting,” says wine expert Paul Robineau.

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