Climate Change and Wine: A Review of the Economic Implications

In this article, we provide an overview of the extensive literature on the impact of weather and climate on grapes and wine with the goal of describing how climate change is likely to affect their production. We start by discussing the physical impact of weather on vine phenology, berry composition, and yields and then survey the economic literature measuring the effects of temperature on wine quality, prices, costs, and profits and how climate change will affect these. We also describe what has been learned so far about possible adaptation strategies for grape growers that would allow them to mitigate the economic effects of climate change. We conclude that climate change is likely to produce winners and losers, with the winners being those closer to the North and South Poles. There are also likely to be some substantial short-run costs as growers adapt to climate change. Nevertheless, wine making has survived through thousands of years of recorded history, a history that includes large climate changes. (JEL Classifications: Q54, Q13)