Why climate change will not dramatically decrease viticultural suitability in main wine-producing areas by 2050

The paper is a Letter arguing about a paper of \r\nHannah et al. (1) who recently published a comprehensive\r\nstudy showing substantial impacts\r\nof climate change on viticultural suitability,\r\nleading to potential ecological issues.\r\nThat expansion of viticulture into\r\nnew areas can lead indeed to a decrease in biodiversity\r\nand an increase in water use for\r\nirrigation might lead to major freshwater\r\nconservation impacts. However, the alarming statement that suitability\r\nfor winegrowing of main wine-producing\r\nareas worldwide will dramatically decrease\r\nover the next 40 y. is wrong. There is a major methodological\r\nflaws in ref. 1, mostly linked to (i)\r\nthe misuse of bibliographical data to compute\r\nsuitability index, (ii) underestimation of adaptations\r\nof viticulture to warmer conditions,\r\nand (iii) the inadequacy of the monthly time\r\nstep in the suitability approach.