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Climate change favored the cultivation of red wine grape cultivar "Pinot Noir" in Hokkaido

Updated:October 26, 2017 (Thursday)

Towards expansion of high quality wine production


A research collaboration that involves NARO and stakeholders in the wine production industry in Hokkaido has shown that the long-term trend in climate change and the climate shift which occurred around 1998 facilitated the cultivation of the red wine grape variety Pinot Noir in the wine production areas of Hokkaido such as the towns of Yoichi in Shiribeshi region and Mikasa in Sorachi region. These results indicate the possibility of further expanding the production of high quality wine such as Pinot Noir in Hokkaido.


Overview

  1. The northernmost regions of Hokkaido are known climatic conditions for growing wine grapes. However, varieties that can be cultivated are limited to wine grape varieties such as Zweigelt, Kerner etc. which are suitable for cold regions, whereas Pinot Noir, a grape variety for high-grade red wine, is difficult to cultivate. However, in recent years, it has become possible to cultivate Pinot Noir in a typical grape wine growing areas of Hokkaido for production of high quality wine.
  2. An extensive study of Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center in collaboration with Yamazaki Winery, Tokachi-Ikeda Research Institute for Viticulture and Enology, Hokkaido Wine Co., Ltd., Zukosha Co. Ltd and Tokyo University of Agriculture has shown that long-term climate change trend and the climate shift which occurred around 1998 facilitated the cultivation of the red wine grape variety Pinot Noir in the wine production areas of Hokkaido such as Yoichi Town in the Shiribeshi region and the Sorachi region.
  3. Analysis of meteorological data showed that climate shift and rise in summer temperature facilitated cultivation of the variety in these regions. The vintage chart in Tokachi indicated the consistent, good harvest of grape since 1998. These results indicate the possibility of further expanding the production of high quality wine such as Pinot Noir in Hokkaido.

Publication

Hirota T, Yamazaki T, Yasui Y, Furukawa J, Niwa K, Nemoto M, Hamasaki T, Shimoda S, Kanno H, Nishio Z. 2017. Climate change favors viticulture and wine production in Hokkaido, Japan: An example of Pinot Noir cultivation since 1998. Climate in Biosphere 17:34-45 (in Japanese with English summary).


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Contact: http://www.naro.affrc.go.jp/english/inquiry/index.html


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