As Canberra’s cool-climate wine region heats up, winemaker James Hopper is planting new grape varieties that he hopes will produce the wines of the future.

Increasingly warm weather can affect how grapes grow, when they are harvested, and most importantly, how wines taste.

Thus, at Mount Majura Vineyard, on the outskirts of the capital, he is testing grapes capable of better resisting the effects of climate change.

“Albarino, we also planted Mencia and Paraletta,” Mr Hopper said.

Albarino, also known as Alvarinho, is a white grape variety, while Menica and Paraletta are both red.

All three come from Spain and parts of Portugal.

Things are moving slowly in viticulture. The new vines could take 20 years before they can produce commercial quantities of wine.

But Mr. Hopper says the winery is planning ahead, even though it will be a while before it can have a glass of Mencia and Paraletta.

“We’re trying to find new varieties that we think will be suitable for our region as it warms because of climate change,” he said.

Canberra, a cool climate, not so cool

The Canberra wine region is considered cool climate and is best known for its European-style Shirazes and Rieslings.

But this cool climate warms up, especially in spring.

“If we look at the last 20 years, we’ve also seen an increase between 1.3 and 1.7 degrees (Celsius), which is a lot for maximum temperatures,” said Janette Lindesay, a climatologist at the Australian National University. .

She gathered data from the Bureau of Meteorology on the spring weather in the capital.

“The temperatures that we associated with summer, maybe 50 or even 30 years ago, are now occurring in spring,” Professor Lindesay said.

“They are growing their leaves and fruit earlier, which means winemakers have had to change the way they do things.”

Hopper says this type of data set corresponds to changes in wine harvests at Mount Majura Vineyard.

“We have data that shows over the last 20 years we’ve seen more than 30 days, maybe 40 days, shorten the Chardonnay season,” he said.

“We harvest it up to 40 days earlier than we started.”

This change is known as “vintage advancement”: the grapes are ready to be picked earlier in the fall than the previous year.

Mount Majura Vineyard has followed the Chardonnay harvest 1.5 days later per year since 2004.

The smallest changes have big impacts

Even the slightest change in the final weeks of grape growth can make a big difference in the quality of a wine.

“If it’s too hot, we see rapid ripening and we end up with a buildup of sugar and our acid disappears, but we also don’t have aromatic ripening,” Mr. Hopper said.

The other problem caused by an early harvest is called “vintage compression.”

The Australian wine season generally runs from October to April.

The cultivation, harvesting, crushing and fermentation of the grapes must take place during this period.

But as the harvest progresses, so does the demand for essential wine resources such as picking, processing and transportation.

Canberra’s wine industry is not the only region affected.

A study by industry body Wine Australia shows Australia’s 71 wine regions must adapt to warmer conditions, with temperatures rising by up to 3C by 2100.

Wine Australia is also working with universities and governments to research new varieties that could be grown in the future.

At Mount Majura Vineyard, it has been three years since the new varieties were planted.

Mr Hopper said more were planned for 2025 or 2026.

“It’s part of the experimental philosophy we have here,” he said.

“But only time will tell.”