Chateau China, a taste of wines to come with climate change
Fine Indian varieties, offshore floating wines and bees trained to sniff bad corks are among predictions for the future of wine-making as the effects of climate change transform the ancient industry.
Analysts say extreme droughts will leave Australia too hot and arid to remain a high-volume wine-maker, with China expected to become one of the world's biggest producers. Countries such as Russia, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine and Slovenia could become international players, and southern Canada is likely to rival the United States while Mexico and Brazil follow the lead of Chile and Argentina.
The Future of Wine report, drawn up by leading wine merchants Berry Brothers and Rudd to speculate on the state of the industry in 50 years, includes familiar optimism about English sparkling wines - on the condition that British drinkers support local vineyards.
The team also suggests that genetically modified, disease-resistant grapes will be grown hydroponically in floating offshore vineyards. Jasper Morris, Berry Bros' Burgundy-buying director, says people producing wine in large volumes would be looking for fermented grapes with some flavour. "It doesn't matter where it comes from. You are thinking about scales of efficiency and space to do it. Why not tether [vines] to wind turbines and float out there?"
China, already the world's sixth largest wine producer, will, with the right soil, low labour costs and soaring domestic demand, take the world by storm in both the volume wine (under £10) and fine wines sectors, it predicts.
"China has the vineyards, but not the technical expertise," said Alun Griffiths, the company's wine director. "However, if good people from wine-producing countries think there is an opportunity to make wine in China, they will go there and invest."
The report predicts China's present 400 wineries will rise at least 10-fold, with a quarter producing fine quality wine. Some wines could rival the best of Bordeaux. Morris said: "It is entirely conceivable that, in such a vast country, there will be pockets of land with a terroir and micro-climate well suited to the production of good quality wines."
India, because of its geographic position, might be limited to smaller-scale production, but the report says viticultural expertise from Europe and Australasia means the county is likely to challenge more traditional wine-growing countries as ambitious Indians turn to fine wine as a mark of social standing.
As the Australian heat transforms wine-growing into a niche industry in wetter areas such as Tasmania, much of eastern Europe - on the same latitude as some of France's wine-producing regions - will begin to feature more prominently.
With French champagne producers looking with interest at the chalky soils of southern England, the report suggests the amount of farmland given over to wine production may rival that of France by 2058, although Morris said yesterday there might be a snag in the shape of population pressures in the same areas.
For those who still think wine boxes naff, the report sees most wine being shipped round the world in "wine tankers' before being put in plastic or reinforced cardboard containers.
A more exotic type of sniffer might also offer protection against faulty wine, said Morris. Honey bees are already being trained to detect plastic explosives, help earlier medical diagnosis and spot signs of deterioration in fruit and veg. Morris suggested that the sommeliers of 2058 could use a small cassette of highly trained bees to ensure no poor-quality wine reaches customers.
在未来，气候的变化将彻底改变古老的酿酒产业。人们将使用古老的印第安品种，近海的洋流漂游以及使用经过特殊训练的蜜蜂来分辨优质的花朵将成为葡萄酒酿造的新趋势。
研究人员分析表示目前的极端天气在未来将导致目前的葡萄酒最大产区之一澳大利亚的气温升高从而不再适宜葡萄酒的酿造，而中国预计将成为未来世界最大的葡萄酒生产基地。其他国家例如俄罗斯、克罗地亚、波兰、乌克兰以及斯洛文尼亚都很可能因为气候的变迁从而变成葡萄酒的世界产地，南加拿大很可能取代美国，而墨西哥和巴西则将取代智利和阿根廷成为世界的葡萄酒主要出口国。
在最新出炉的未来葡萄酒业报告中，由目前葡萄酒业的主要生产商Berry Brothers以及Rudd共同主持了关于该产业在50年之内的情况预测。该预测中除了葡萄酒外还同时关注了英式气泡酒 – 作为英国人最喜爱的一种饮料之一。
在该分析调查中指出，作为目前世界第6大葡萄酒产地的中国在未来很有可能由于全球气候的变化而拥有适宜葡萄生长的天气，并凭借其肥沃的土壤，低廉的劳动力从而成为低价以及高价葡萄酒的最大产地。