The weather and wine
Stephen was interviewed recently for an article discussing winemaking and the impact that warmer weather will have. Climate change looks to make changes to the types of wines that can be grown and what varieties will be suited to the increasing temperatures.
Travellers who visit Chambers Rosewood Winery, in the Victorian town of Rutherglen, are greeted with a selection of 37 red, white and fortified wines. Owner Stephen Chambers is the sixth generation of his family to take over the business and one of 6000 grape growers in the country.
Over the decades he’s observed warmer temperatures and a shift in seasonal rainfalls. During the 1990s and 2000s, the mercury would hit 40 degrees in summer before cooling down to the high 30s. Nowadays, the property swelters through 45-degree days, with the low 40s considered a respite. Across the country more broadly, temperatures in Australia have increased by between 0.2 and 1.6 degrees on average over the past 21 years, according to NASA data.
The heat presents a unique challenge for winemakers as it causes grapes to ripen early, changing sugar and acidity levels and affecting the taste of the final product.
“Things aren’t getting as cool as what they were. The weather patterns have changed a bit,” Chambers says. “The grape might be sugar ripe but not what we call phenologically ripe, which means it’s not flavour ripe.”
