🌿 Cool climate

Cool climate means places where the summer is short and not hot, and berries ripen slowly. In viticulture the term is used for areas on the northern or southern edge of grape growing, or high above sea level. Cool climate is part of the broader idea of vineyard climate. Examples are Champagne and the Mosel in Europe, Burgundy, the hills of New Zealand and high-altitude areas of Argentina. Here berries gather less sugar and keep a lot of acid. So wines come out fresh and light, with modest alcohol and crisp acidity. Reds can be pale and aromatic, whites have notes of apple and citrus. Suitable grapes for such places are Riesling, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. They do not fear the cool and show their best in it. Sparkling wines also like cold: acidity is just what they need for bubbles. The drawback is that in cold years berries may not ripen, and spring frost threatens the crop. So the harvest varies from year to year. As the climate warms, cool areas change, and the varieties grown there change.