From our other sites
The story
Record-breaking heatwaves have raised sugar levels in Champagne grapes, leading to more cases where post-fermentation alcohol content exceeds the traditional cap — prompting the French government to ease its alcohol-content regulations for Champagne. The topic drew a strong reaction from Lemmy’s European community, where discussion centered on the volatility of climate change: even as global warming progresses overall, an expanding polar vortex could bring more sudden spring frosts. A number of commenters also pointed out the irony that, even as consumers increasingly favor lower-alcohol drinks, this regulation moved in the opposite direction.
Following record heatwaves, France eases alcohol-content limit on champagne
Source: bbc.co.uk / Read the original article here
What people said
Did you actually read the article?
Nah, just skimmed it.
Broke my own rule there. Ironically, I'll blame it on the sparkling chardonnay.
Hard to say. The planet's warming on average, but weather variability itself is actually increasing — the polar vortex can expand and bring cold snaps. So I think it's entirely possible we'll see 'average temps rising, but sudden frost damage also increasing' at the same time.
Can't imagine severe spring frosts becoming the new normal, though.
If the Gulf Stream weakens, nobody knows what happens after that.
To borrow a line from Homer Simpson: it's not going to become the norm — 'so far.'
So what, does that mean we're not allowed to discuss a major regulatory change? Are you saying every alcohol-related story should get downvoted unless it's about tightening the rules?
Nah, that would let in bacteria and other contaminants — you'd be better off just diluting the grape juice normally. But I think winemakers want to work with what nature gives them as-is, to make something interesting.
>
>'The tug-of-war between what consumers want and what nature provides must be pretty stressful for producers.'
Couldn't they just leave it open in an oak barrel or something and let enough of the alcohol evaporate off?
That would let other compounds evaporate along with it. Letting wine sit open before drinking is about exposing it to air to change the flavor — the effect's weaker with white wine, but it's not zero.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
This regulatory easing stems from the fact that grape-growing in the Champagne region is tightly controlled under the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system. When a heatwave raises the sugar content of the grapes, the alcohol produced during fermentation naturally rises too, pushing past the traditional cap — so authorities revised the limit itself. Where the thread split was on whether to view this heatwave as ‘an example of warming’ or ‘an example of greater climate volatility,’ and opinions didn’t converge on whether spring frosts will become more frequent going forward either. There were also comments wryly noting that, even as low-alcohol preferences spread worldwide, this regulation moved in the opposite direction by being ‘relaxed’ — worth keeping in mind that a simple read of ‘warming raised the alcohol content’ alone can obscure that mismatch with consumer trends.
*This article is excerpted and adapted by our editorial team from the thread “France lifts alcohol content limit on champagne after record heatwaves” on the overseas forum Lemmy c/europe. Our site takes responsibility for the translation.
Leave a Reply