Early grape ripening linked to Global Warming

Paris - Researchers in Australia say they have pinpointed key factors in the early ripening of grapes, providing potential answers for wine growers threatened by global warming.
In Australia and Western Europe, there is an abundance of anecdotal evidence linking higher temperatures with earlier grape maturation, a phenomenon that can affect the quality of table wine.
But wine growing and climate change are each highly complex questions.
Until now, no-one has sorted out how the variables - warming, sunlight, soil moisture and vineyard management - each play a role in grape maturation.
A team led by Leanne Webb at Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), looked at 10 sites in southern Australia where there were highly detailed records, stretching from 1985 to 2009, for all of these factors.
Only at one site - at Margaret River on Australia's south-western tip - did the grapes ripen later. For the others, maturation occurred between six to 34 days earlier.