Vineyards in Lavaux, Switzerland (Flickr: kBandara)

In Wine Enthusiast, Kate Dingwall looks at how climate change is driving winemakers to seek out higher ground for vineyards. “Across the world, winemakers are starting to feel the burn as average land temperatures rise and hot extremes become glaring and more regular. Producers in Piedmont, the Dolomites, Argentina and California are chasing cool temperatures higher into the hills.”

Jancis Robinson ponders the future of Blaufränkisch in Austria. “Blaufränkisch was seen as a bit of a wild, gauche native compared with the sophisticated foreigner. Its wine is naturally high in both acidity and tannin in its youth, which initially made it relatively difficult to appreciate as a single-grape ‘varietal’ wine … But the inconvenient fact remains that most serious varietal Blaufränkisch really needs extended time – years – in bottle to show its best, which is not helpful in our fast-forward age.”

In Decanter, TK shares some big news coming out of Alsace: “From the 2022 vintage, two of its 51 grands crus will be authorized to label their Pinot Noir red wines as grand cru, in addition to the existing white wines permitted. This is a significant development in a region which, since 1975, has only awarded grand cru status to its white wines made from Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Sylvaner (the last recently added).”

On his blog, Alder Yarrow sums up the new SVB State of Wine report: “Here’s the bottom line for those without the time to read much, or who were just excited to click on an image featuring wine and zombies: two worrying trends continue unabated in the American wine industry.”

Adam Montefiore explores the evolution of quality Israeli wine.

In Meininger’s, Felicity Carter outlines seven wine trends to watch.

In the Oregonian, Michael Alberty explores bubbly in the Willamette Valley.