On Monday, scientists said climate change has moved French wines into unexplored territory, and may push producers to reposition, or abandon the grape varieties that played an important role in giving prominence to their vineyards.

Scientists reported in Nature Climate Change that since 1980, emerging conditions in northern climes like Champagne and Burgundy, and in sun-drenched Bordeaux, have vitally altered the ‘harvest equation’ that represented these regions. French wine is ranked among the highest in the world.

Study co-author Elizabeth Wolkovich, an assistant professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard University, said that for most part of France, local climates have remained comparatively stable for hundreds or thousands of years. While speaking to AFP, she said that the scenario is shifting due to climate change.

The great winemaking tradition depends on a number factor including ingredients, soil, grape variety, slope, Sun exposure, and savoir faire in the vineyards.

However, historically, outstanding vintages also needed an early harvest produced by plenty of spring rains, warm summers, and a late-season drought.

Study lead author Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York City, said that droughts have been helpful in increasing temperatures sufficiently to bring in the harvest some weeks early. While explaining the process, he said that it is ‘basic physics at work’.

In normal years, the daily moisture evaporation from soil results into a cooling effect. An Indian summer turns the soil dryer as insufficient evaporation indicates hotter soil surface. However, the study discovered that since 1980, the last element of the equation has majorly got vanished.

Cook said, “Now, it’s become so warm thanks to climate change, grape growers don’t need drought to get these very warm temperatures. That is a fundamental shift in the large-scale climate under which other, local factors operate”.