Three Ways Champagne Is Beating Its Climate-Change Problem
Champagne’s climate-change problem is simple to state and hard to solve: the region’s identity is built on cool temperatures, high acidity, and slow ripening. Rising temperatures are eroding all three. Between 1961 and 2020, average temperatures in Champagne rose by 1.8°C. Harvest now starts twenty days earlier than it did thirty years ago. The grapes are riper, the natural acidity is lower, and the crisp, tense, minerally character that distinguishes great Champagne from every other sparkling wine in the world is under pressure. The producers know it. Here are the three approaches the region is betting on.
1. Pick Earlier — and Colder
The simplest adaptation is already happening: harvesting earlier in the morning, when grapes are coolest, and earlier in the season, before maximum sugar accumulation. Harvesting at night or in the early hours reduces the temperature at which the freshly picked fruit arrives at the winery — warmer grapes begin oxidizing immediately, losing aromatic freshness before they’re even pressed. Some houses have moved to entirely nocturnal harvesting during hot years. Others have shifted picking dates earlier by a week or more compared to practices from a decade ago, accepting slightly lower sugar levels in exchange for preserving the acidity that defines the style. The challenge: harvesting earlier leaves less margin if a September heat event arrives after picking has begun. There’s a point beyond which earlier harvesting becomes an inadequate response to temperatures that simply keep rising.
2. Revive the Forgotten Varieties
This is the most structurally interesting solution — and the most distinctly French. Roughly 99.7% of Champagne’s vineyards are planted with three varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. But the Champagne AOC permits four additional historic grapes that were essentially outcompeted and now account for a tiny fraction of plantings: Petit Meslier, Arbane, Pinot Blanc, and Fromenteau (Pinot Gris). The reason these varieties lost ground is precisely the reason they’re now interesting again: Petit Meslier and Arbane ripen slowly and retain high levels of natural acidity — characteristics that were liabilities in a cool region and are assets in a warming one.
A handful of producers — including Aubry and Laherte Frères — have been quietly working with these varieties for years. The CIVC (the Champagne industry body) is now actively encouraging their reintroduction. At the end of 2024, a 4,500m² bioclimatic greenhouse called Qanopée opened near Épernay — uniting Beaujolais, Burgundy, and Champagne in joint research — specifically designed to accelerate the development of new clones, rootstocks, and heat-resistant varieties that can be introduced into the vineyard rapidly. The long-term vision: a more diverse Champagne vineyard that is less vulnerable to any single climatic event or temperature trend.
3. Rethink the Vineyard Itself
Canopy management, soil health, and site selection are the least dramatic but arguably the most durable adaptations. Champagne’s traditional vineyard practices were designed to maximize ripening in a cool climate — keeping the canopy open to sunlight, training vines low to catch warmth reflected from the soil. In a warmer climate, those same practices accelerate ripening too quickly. Growers are now adjusting canopy management to shade fruit from direct sun during the hottest periods, slowing ripening and protecting natural acidity. Cover cropping — planting vegetation between vine rows — improves soil water retention and reduces heat stress on root systems. North-facing parcels, higher elevations, and chalk-influenced cooler sites are being looked at with fresh appreciation, as the geography that was marginal in a cool era becomes desirable in a warming one. As one grower puts it: the choice of site is looking more important with every harvest.
The Honest Assessment
The short-term news is better than the headlines suggest: the warming trend has actually improved Champagne quality in some respects — more consistent ripeness, fewer years ruined by underripeness, better growing-season conditions in previously marginal years. Charles Philipponnat, CEO of Champagne Philipponnat, has said that harvesting earlier while accepting higher ripeness has been “a blessing” in his view. But the long-term picture is more complicated. If temperatures continue rising toward the +4°C by 2100 that current projections suggest, earlier harvesting and canopy adjustments won’t be enough. The forgotten varieties and the research coming out of Qanopée represent the region’s most serious long-term bet — and the next decade will show how much it pays off.
