Climate change could make the Napa Valley cooler over time, according to a new in-depth study of the subject by the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) association.

Although temperatures in the Central Valley are predicted to rise, the new research points out that this hotter air tends to draw cool, misty weather further up into Napa Valley from the San Francisco Bay area.

The NVV was prompted to commission the four-year-long study by reports in 2006 that many vineyard areas, Napa included, could soon become too hot to grow premium wine grapes because of climate change.

According to the NVV report, this French study only surveyed a few weather stations in the valley, while its more comprehensive survey revealed different results. In fact, average temperatures had risen by an average of only one or two degrees Fahrenheit over the past several decades, with the warming concentrated in the night, rather than the daytime.

Christopher Howell of Cain Vineyard & Winery, a member of the climate study task force, described the phenomenon as a 'vacuum effect', adding: 'The Pacific Ocean is our region's greatest temperature control.'

News item from Imbibe.com, 18-02-2011