Amid Climate Change’s Winners and Losers, Portuguese Grapes Come Out on Top

BY KATHLEEN WILLCOX

a crystal ball with a man showing bunches of freshly picked grapes in Vineyard, during the Grape Harvest in portugal

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It’s no secret that wine countries around the world are threatened by climate change. But the potential impact it could have on the contents of our own wine glasses, is less obvious.

Extreme weather is becoming the new normal, with global heat records being shattered almost every month. 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history and temperatures are expected to keep rising. 

Winemakers have gotten the memo and to stay in business, they are rethinking their allegiance to the grapes they’ve been growing for hundreds of years, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. They’re turning to varietals that have evolved to thrive in much hotter conditions. Many of these grapes happen to be Portuguese. 

Portugal’s Grapes and Climate Change

Evan Goldstein, a master sommelier, wine author and president of Full Circle Wine Solutions, isn’t surprised that Portuguese varietals are becoming more popular with producers.

“These grape varieties are innately, if not uniquely well-adapted to thrive in high heat and drought conditions…while also making delightful wines,” Goldstein explains. 

Greg Jones—an atmospheric scientist, wine climatologist and CEO of Abacela Winery, in southern Oregon—notes that many Portuguese varieties ripen later than average. For wine-growers living in climates that are becoming noticeably warmer, planting late-ripening grapes essentially allows them to ripen at the right time.

Bringing Portugal to Bordeaux 

Winemakers in Bordeaux, which has very strict regulations on which grapes can be grown in the region, are especially concerned about adapting to climate change. Agnes Destrac-Irvine, a research engineer at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, has been spearheading research on new grape varieties for the area.

In a bid to make Bordeaux wines more viable in the present and for the future, Destrac-Irvine helped create and guide the VitAdapt project to explore the feasibility of blending grapes from hot and dry regions with the Bordeaux mainstays. (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere for reds and Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle, Colombard, Merlot Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Ugni Blanc for whites.)

Destrac-Irvine studied more than 50 varietals between 2007 and 2020. She took special note of late-ripening grapes known for producing high-quality wines with oenological characteristics “comparable” to Bordeaux classics.

After growing and verifying single varietal wines of each grape and evaluating them blind by a panel of experts on typicity and quality, the Portuguese varietals of Touriga Nacional, Vinhao and Alvarinho emerged with the same scores as the Bordeaux varieties. 

In 2021, France’s national appellation body, the National Institute of Origin and Quality, had approved six new varieties for the country, two of which were Portuguese in origin: Touriga Nacional and Alvarinho. 

As successful as these varietals are, there is a hurdle for getting vines in the ground. 

“Opinions among winegrowers are very divided,” says Destrac-Irvine. “Some are rather conservative, while others want to innovate and plant new grape varieties. Young growers are more willing to experiment.”

Portuguese ‘Climate Smart Cultivars’ Around the World 

As Bordeaux dips its toe into Portuguese varieties, growers elsewhere are finding that the vines are not just good at withstanding hot and dry conditions, they’re also producing incredible wines.

In the Napa Valley, winemakers like Larkmead Vineyards, Stags’ Leap and Beaulieu Vineyards are experimenting with blends and single varietal bottlings of Portuguese varietals.  

Nicolas Peterkin, founder and winemaker at Margaret River, Australia’s L.A.S. Vino, jumped at the opportunity to buy Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao and Souzao from 40-year-old vines. He gravitated toward them for what they bring to the glass and their “resilience to both the heat and rain, solid yields” and lack of irrigation needs, he says.

Peterkin has never looked back. “Touriga gives us structure and flavor; Tinta Cao delivers aroma, finesse and lightness; and Souzou gives color and acidity,” Peterkin says of his ambition to create a Cabernet Sauvignon-style blend that was “delicious but different.”

He knew it would be a hard sell as a classic wine, so he leaned into its otherness.

“We decided to make a wine that no one was doing and call it ‘The Pirate Blend,’” Peterkin says. “We poured the wine into interesting bottles to break down barriers with the customer, who would pick it up out of curiosity.”

Stanton and Killeen, in Rutherglen, Australia, grows 15 varieties across 84 acres, including the Portuguese Arinto, Alvarinho, Antao Vaz, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca, Tinto Cao and Souzao. The winery planted them in the early 1990s in order to make Port-style wines. But in 2007, they began making a table wine from them, and had such great feedback, they’ve continued to produce the line and now feel blessed by their climate hardiness.

“In the early days we didn’t talk about climate change, but now we know it’s real,” Managing Director Wendy Killeen says. “We are fortunate to have these varieties here because they love the increasingly warm and hot climate.”

Eben Sadie, winemaker and grower at The Sadie Family Wines, in South Africa’s Swartland, planted Tinta Barocca, Tricadera and Bastardo Do Castello 18 years ago after seeing a real need for grapes that could thrive in searing heat, without a lot of water. 

“We planted them for their acidity,” Sadie says, adding that some of the Tinta Barocca is used for a single vineyard bottling while the others go in blends. 

Managing to coax bright flavors out of grapes grown in punishing heat is drawing other vintners to Portuguese grapes across South Africa. 

Stephanie Wiid, winemaker and co-founder of Thistle and Weed in Stellenbosch, South Africa, says that she began seeking out Portuguese varieties like Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Souzao and Tinta Francisca from across the Western Cape. So far, she has been intrigued with the results, dubbing them “climate smart cultivars.”

Winemakers are pleasantly surprised with how these varietals are performing, from practical matters like longer picking windows and the ability to retain their natural acidity. But the most convincing trait is what we’ll notice when we drink these wines. “They also have more longevity in the bottle and more complexity in aromatics,” Wiid says.