Humbrecht forecasts varietal evolution

Olivier Humbrecht MW, one of Alsace's stellar performers, as well as one of the France’s most articulate winemakers (see this account of the recent MW Symposium for example), recently gave some portentous insight into the future of his beloved region – including some blunt realism about the impact of climate change.

With the average temperature in Alsace increasing by 0.06 ºC each year, Humbrecht says that both flowering and harvest are 16 days earlier than a generation ago. Whereas that means that fighting for ripeness is now a thing of the past, it also means that he thinks some sort...