Climate warming has been a buzz word since Al Gore made it popular a few years ago. Then for those who were not so sure of climate warming the term became global change.

Global change would significantly impact vineyards and therefore the wines you drink. Back in 2006 a researcher claimed that eventually Napa Valley would be too warm to grow quality wine grapes.

This week Napa Valley Vintners released a study, Climate and Phenology in Napa Valley: A Compilation and Analysis of Historical Data coauthored by Dr. Daniel R. Cayan, Dr. Kimberly Nicholas, Mary Tyree, and Dr. Michael Dettinger. This study included records dating back to the 1950’s. Information was gleaned from hand written notes as well as up to date weather stations throughout the valley. (More data was used in this study than in the previous 2006 study.)

The Napa Valley Vintners study found that Napa Valley has had one to two degrees warming over decades. This is much less than what had previously been thought. There has been little change in the daytime temperatures with temperature increase being at nighttime. The press release ends with encouraging news for wineries and vineyards, “Over the last several decades in growing season temperatures, there has been little warming in the daytime and the available observations provide little evidence that the growing cycle of the grapevines has changed substantially.”

Read the Napa Valley press release.

Cheers, Kathy