EnlargeGreg Wahl-Stephens/AP
Pinot noir grapes are notoriously finicky about the weather, and climate change has winemakers in Oregon thinking about the future.
Some grapes like it hot.
But for growers of Pinot Noir, mild summers tempered by chilly nights and fresh ocean air make for award-winning, fortune-finding wines. Such a climate has turned Oregon into a producer of some of the world's most highly regarded Pinot Noir. This variety, which seemed to receive a strong sales boost from the 2004 film Sideways, accounts for about 60 percent of Oregon's wine production and 70 percent of Oregon's total wine sales.
But as global warming nudges average temperatures upward across the planet and causes tumultuous, grape-damaging weather changes, winemakers in Oregon are wondering just how their superstar grape will fare — if at all.
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