A lot of people around the world love their wine. It’s a popular drink all over, and some of the best wine comes from Australia. The only issue now is that now climate change is starting to affect winemakers across the country. It could spell disaster for the industry in Australia, as fertile land for growing grape-vines is already hard to come by.

Grape vines are known for needing colder temperatures, however, climate change is making it hard for wineries to keep their grapes at the required temperature. The increase in heat has been causing damages to crops all over the country and now winemakers are looking for ways to be able to grow their vines in a changing climate. On top of this, crops are also facing less rain, especially in the central-west of NSW where a lot of the leading wineries are.

So how do they plan to fight this issue? They have moved to higher ground. The higher altitudes mean less heat all around for the grapes to be able to flourish. Justin Jarret, who is the president of the Orange Region Vignerons’ Association said that “Nature doesn’t let you have a committee meeting about whether it’s going to get warmer, it just is.”

For a lot of winemakers, this move will be essential as wines that are made in warmer climates are losing interest to consumers. It means that the wineries need to move if they are going to supply the wines that are currently in demand. To put in scope how much temperatures can affect the crops, just a change of 2 degrees means farmers will need to move their crops 200m in height to keep them from dying.

The lack of rain has already seen yields fall by up to 40% this year so far with the heat in summer and autumn making it hard for winemakers to turn any profit. At this point, it looks like unless the current rate of global warming is curbed, agriculturally cultivated  goods like wine are going to start to see significant issues in the coming years.