c’est la vie

It’ll be hard to toast to the end of the world without champagne

By Katie Herzogon Aug 17, 2016Share

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.  

Wildfires, we can extinguish. Floods, we can flee. Sea levels, we can rise with. But this, this, is one downside of climate change there is just no recovering from.

That’s right: Climate change is coming for our champagne.

Vice reports that dramatic changes in France’s climate are wrecking havoc on the country’s champagne-makers. This season has been particularly unstable, according to Eric Rodez of the winery Champagne Rodez, who told Decanter that late spring frosts killed up to 70 percent of some winemakers’ grape harvests.

It’s an ongoing problem. “The early budding of the plant due to climate change makes them vulnerable to spring freezes,” Eric Fournel, director of the Duval-Leroy Vineyard, told PRI in 2014 — the same year Duval-Leroy lost over half their grape harvest to a freeze in May.

There is, however, a silver-lining to this otherwise horrid news: While climate change might make champagne harder to come by, it could make it tastier. Fournel said that climate change has actually improved the quality of the grapes as high temperatures lead to richer sugars, more alcohol, and less acidity.

Finally, there’s one reason to pop a cork.

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It’ll be hard to toast to the end of the world without champagne