Our Changing Menu - Ingredient Database

(Under Ongoing Development)

Grapes, Wine

Europe; US; Australia

Wine grapes, especially premium quality wine grapes, are very sensitive to temperature changes. Under warmer conditions, grapes may be ready for harvest earlier and have higher sugar levels, lower acidity levels, and different aromatic compounds. In combination with less-dependable rainfall patterns, higher temperatures will likely lead to lower yields and poorer grape quality in many warm-climate wine regions. With a changing climate new regions have begun growing wine grapes, an opportunity for some. [1] Climate change will have enormous impacts on future wine production worldwide. Some scientists suggest that the world’s major wine-producing regions may see declines of 25 to 73% by 2050.[2]

References:

[1] Ramón Mira de Orduña, “Climate Change Associated Effects on Grape and Wine Quality and Production,” Food Research International, Climate Change and Food Science, 43, no. 7 (August 1, 2010): 1851, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2010.05.001.

[2] Hannah et al., “Climate Change, Wine, and Conservation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 17 (April 23, 2013): 6907, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1210127110.

Our foods and food ingredients: They're all changing.

Yields of major staple crops like wheat and rice are being hurt by increasing temperatures. Wine grape production is moving to cooler climes causing changes in the character of some of our favorites. The flavors and health benefits of teas, the size of potatoes, the sting of a hot pepper, where fish call home in the oceans, and a future decline in protein in vegetables—it’s all changing.

Our food database shows the ingredients affected by a changing climate.

To learn what farmers, scientists, and many others are doing to keep the menu stocked, see Stewardship of the Land and Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need. You have a role, too!

Using our database:

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Construction in progress...

This food ingredient database is in its early phase and we will strive to expand it on an ongoing basis so that everyone is aware of how climate change is affecting the foods we love and need.