Scottish Wine?

[N2NH]

Yes Thanks to Climate Change (or not. This isn't political.) Seems that French wines are getting stronger, Italians are being sent up the mountain for cooler air for their vineyards, and Germany may end up with a more perfect wine. But Scotland is the surprise.

Christopher Trotter will make history later this year when he unveils the first bottles of wine from his vineyard nestled to the north of Edinburgh -- all thanks to climate change.

The 2014 vintage will be a unique treat for Scotland, where Highlanders have concentrated on brewing ale and distilling whiskey for centuries.

"Scotland has probably been more of a beer-drinking nation than anything else," said Trotter, a chef and food writer. Wine hasn't been part of the culture, he said, "until now."

[...]

According to a study last year by Conservation International senior scientist Lee Hannah, up to 73 percent of today's major wine-producing regions will no longer be ideal by 2050. Warming may jolt natives as European grape varieties have been handpicked for local conditions for more than a millennium, revealed research by Gregory Jones, a research climatologist at Southern Oregon University in Ashland.

"A warmer climate is taking hold little by little," said Olivier Bernard, owner of the Domaine de Chevalier estate in Bordeaux's Pessac Leognan area since 1983. "We're harvesting grapes in Bordeaux now that are indisputably riper than 20 years ago" (Rudy Ruitenberg, Bloomberg, March 26).

I have noticed that wines I bought years ago have the same taste but seem a lot stronger than they used to be.


Scottish Wine

[kb2vxa]

Of course wines you bought years ago have the same taste, but how they got stronger sitting in bottles is beyond me. (;->)

At least my friend in Edinburgh, Glen GM1JWC, no longer has to get his wine from Italy when he has a Scottish grape stomper right in his back yard. Well, that is if she doesn't get lost in the weeds in his garden, get pecked by birds coming for breakfast, or eaten by his lions and tigers hiding in the tall grass.

[KG4CGC]

I thought that it was a law that everything in Scotland 'must be distilled, C'ptain.'

[HUGH]

Scotland has several microclimates and is able to produce strawberries in season as well as blackberries, raspberries and so on. If a summer red grape harvest is rather poor then I would throw in some blackberries 'cos many people wouldn't notice and the body and colour of the wine would be much improved.

The workable vineyards are spreading further north in England and Wales but it's still a bit optimistic to expect good vintages from Scotland, I don't think the Romans managed to produce much north of my county.

[NQ6U]

Aye, a bottle o' Scottish wine an' a wee bit o' haggis for me, laddie.

[kb2vxa]

You'll never be a Scotsman, it's a wee dram an' a haggis laddie!

[N2NH]

Scotland has several microclimates and is able to produce strawberries in season as well as blackberries, raspberries and so on. If a summer red grape harvest is rather poor then I would throw in some blackberries 'cos many people wouldn't notice and the body and colour of the wine would be much improved.

The workable vineyards are spreading further north in England and Wales but it's still a bit optimistic to expect good vintages from Scotland, I don't think the Romans managed to produce much north of my county.

I have to admit that I was skeptical of Irish Vodka. Sorry I missed out on that, it sounded interesting. But with climate changing around the world, I can see where Scottish Wine might be possible. What I don't see is how it would be marketed in Scotland, land of whisky, beer and scotch, or in England where they're probably laughing at this whole idea... but I'd give it a try.

[HUGH]

I have to admit that I was skeptical of Irish Vodka. Sorry I missed out on that, it sounded interesting. But with climate changing around the world, I can see where Scottish Wine might be possible. What I don't see is how it would be marketed in Scotland, land of whisky, beer and scotch, or in England where they're probably laughing at this whole idea... but I'd give it a try.

Providing the Scots don't vote for independence, coerced into making Alex Salmond "King Alexander I of Scotland", there will always be people wanting to buy a home-grown product.
I suspect grapes from Scotland will have to be grown in polytunnels and there won't be any rich reds produced.

The Irish vodka, like the Polish I suspect, could be made from potatoes.

[HUGH]

2080GrapeVarieties.jpg

Here's the prediction. It doesn't seem to go too far north.

[w3bny]

Scottish wine? Is that Buckfast