This is the first of two articles focusing on specific topics considered at the recent International Cool Climate Wine Symposium in Brighton. For the second, see Robots in the vineyard, shredders in the winery.
While a grape variety might be planted more for its market appeal than for its ultimate suitability to a particular climatic region (as has been the case until recently in parts of China, for example), choosing the most appropriate variety for a specific cool-climate region is critical to wine quality and therefore to commercial success.
Professor Greg Jones’s very useful climate-maturity table, included at...