German winemakers plant French grapes as climate warms

German winemakers planted more grape varieties usually associated with Europe’s more southern regions in 2024, replacing local vines with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot as growers adapt their vineyards to a warming climate.

Wine producers in Germany increased the cultivation of Chardonnay grapes typically associated with Burgundy by 138 hectares (ha), the German Wine Institute (DWI) reported on Tuesday, citing data from statistics office Destatis. At the same time, growers reduced the area for early-ripening Müller-Thurgau.

As climate change brings warmer growing seasons, German winemakers are increasingly planting French grapes that in the past wouldn’t reliably ripen in their vineyards, as well as new varieties bred to resist fungal diseases that thrive in warm and humid conditions. Average annual temperatures in Germany have risen around 2°C since the 1970s, according to climate data compiled by the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.

The total area in Germany with Chardonnay vines rose 4.7% last year to 3,050ha (Destatis). That’s nearly double the figure from a decade ago. Sauvignon Blanc has been another popular white wine variety among German winemakers, with the growing area more than doubling in the past decade to 2,054ha in 2024.

Meanwhile, growers have been ripping up plots planted with Müller-Thurgau, once Germany’s most common white wine variety ahead of Riesling. The area of Müller-Thurgau fell 2.1% last year to 10,511ha, less than half the surface planted with the variety in the mid-1990s. That’s as the overall area producing whites was little changed year-on-year at 71,423ha.

Among red wine grapes, Merlot bucked a trend for falling production area, with the growing area increasing 3.2% last year to 96ha Meanwhile, the overall surface producing red wines fell 1.4% to 31,872ha as German winemakers adapt to consumer demand shifting to white wine.

‘The increases in the new robust grape varieties and in the southern varieties in the red wine sector show that German winegrowers are increasingly adapting to the challenges of climate change,’ DWI MD Monika Reule said.

Germany is Europe’s fourth-biggest wine producer behind Italy, France and Spain. German wine production fell 9.8% to 7.75 million hectoliters in 2024, the third-lowest volume in 15 years, according to Destatis. The statistics office blamed spring rains and mildew as well as extreme weather including late frosts and hail storms for the drop in production.

The overall vineyard area in Germany fell 0.4% in 2024 to 103,295ha due to the decline in reds. White wine grapes accounted for 69% of the total surface, a share that’s been creeping up year after year since 2006, when whites accounted for 63% of the wine-grape area.