Bye-bye, bubbly?
Champagne may be in short supply rather soon, according to ClimateAI, a climate resilience platform based in San Francisco.
The company said the changing global climate could threaten the popular celebratory beverage.
ClimateAI’s artificial intelligence-driven data has suggested that hundreds of grape varieties could be on the brink of extinction, including champagne-making grapes like pinot noir, chardonnay and merlot.
Will Kletter, ClimateAI’s vice president of operations and strategy, told Fox News Digital in an interview that champagne and wine drinkers may be at a loss by the year 2050.
“If you are a consumer who has a very particular preference for a bottle of wine from a certain region, then I would encourage you to enjoy that now,” he said.
“That puts growers in a very difficult position,” he said. “They can decide to harvest early to prevent what’s called overripening — too much booze, too much flavor in the grape — or let it sit on the vine and risk that over-ripening, but maybe get that acidity.”
In light of a changing climate, Kletter said some growers will be forced to move their production north to capture some colder weather.
There has been a “significant” uptick in investment in sparkling products produced in the U.K., for example, where there are warm, sunny days with cool nights, he pointed out.
As companies start to move to different locations, Kletter predicted the economy will shift as well.
Champagne currently comes from one region of France.
French wine accounts for $9.6 billion in exports, equaling 16% of all global wine sales, according to ClimateAI.
In 2021, champagne growers saw their smallest harvest since 1957 due to extreme weather events, ClimateAI reported.
“Sparkling wine can be made anywhere, but champagne can only be made in Champagne, [France],” he said. “This is critical for the French economy.”
Half a million champagne industry employees, as well as 24 million tourists who travel to the region each year, could be impacted by the changing climate, Kletter told Fox News Digital.
“Decades, if not centuries, of tradition and culture are built around champagne in that region,” he said.
“They’re going to face a lot of challenges with preserving the economy and culture as that ideal zone moves away from them.”
Kletter predicted that a “very significant economic shift” will occur as crops change, especially in Italian regions where the production of certain wines is at risk.
“You already see Italy kind of dethroned as the world leader [of wine production] due to a number of factors, but climate is certainly an important one,” he said. “So it will represent a rebalancing.”