Meteorologist Explains Why Climate Change Isn’t Ruining Napa’s Pinot Noir Grapes
Natural cycles, shifting markets, and grape biology—not climate change—explain Napa’s Pinot Noir challenges.
by Anthony Watts September 11, 2025, 9:44 AM
In a recent Stocktonia’s article, “The Dark Side of Pinot Noir: Climate Change Forcing Napa Vintners to Make Hard Choices,” Bay City News claims that rising temperatures driven by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have affected Napa’s grape production season. This is false. [emphasis, links added]
Many other factors affect grape production that have not been considered or mentioned in the Stocktonia article, such as the shifting tastes of consumers, the economics of demand, natural variability of weather, and long-term effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean.
“[A] study by San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Daniel Cayan found that steadily climbing temperatures have advanced Napa’s grape-growing season by almost a month compared to the 1950s,” writes Stocktonia, continuing, “high temperatures reduce acids and increase sugar content dramatically, resulting in heavy, high alcohol ‘hot’ wines that maintain few of the spicy, complicated aromas and flavors traditionally associated with the grape.”
While warming trends have nudged harvest dates earlier in certain vineyards, asserting a sweeping one-month advancement across the diverse Napa wine growing region oversimplifies the reality.
https://climatechangedispatch.com/meteorologist-napa-pinot-noir-climate-myths/
