How are Belgian vineyards adapting to climate change?

Winegrowers in Belgium's Walloon region are adapting their wine growing technique due to the growing threat of climate change.

Transcript

00:00Belgium's winemakers are busy adapting to climate change, and the rise in temperature

00:05is encouraging more winemaking in a country that's famous for its beer. But in Wallonia,

00:11near to the French border, the winemaking is also being hindered by the hazards of climate

00:16change.

00:17With climate change, it's not just a warming that you have more maturity, it's rather

00:28the extreme, and the extreme is not good. It's not good, it's flooding, it's rain,

00:37it's extreme, it's frost.

00:41With global warming, the budding of the vines begins earlier in the season, making it more

00:45vulnerable to spring frost. And there's another headache, the recent appearance of insects

00:50and diseases in the vineyards of northern Europe, which used to be more common in the

00:55south.

00:56There's an insect called Drosophila suzuki. It started in southern Europe. So at the time,

01:08the other countries that are further north, oh, it doesn't come to us. But apparently,

01:13the Suzuki Drosophila suzuki, it moves further north each year. It has already become here

01:21in Belgium.

01:22So winemakers are having to adapt and change their technique. The owner of Chaton Bon Baron

01:28now applies clay to her vines to protect them from both water stress and heat stress. And

01:34she's also started removing some of the leaves from the vine.

01:38And the leaves, the vine has an indication, I'm exposed to heat, to cold, to rain, to

01:48wind. So it creates a thicker skin. And a thicker skin, it has less risk for the attack

01:58of insects, the attack of diseases. They are stronger, protected against heat.

02:06When Jeannette van der Steen started producing wine in the 2000s, the harvest began in Wallonia

02:12in mid-October. But she says it's now advanced to early September. Even so, despite it being

02:19August, she says it's still too early this year to predict when the harvest will begin.