Our warming climate has made much of Norfolk ideal territory for vineyards and wine-making – but scientists claim the change is happening so fast, this window may only last a few decades.
Prof Steve Dorling of the University of East Anglia, also chief executive of forecaster Weatherquest, said researchers had combined the latest climate and terrain data to produce a map which showed large areas of Norfolk are in the top 10pc of suitable UK vineyard land - shown here in red.
But the situation is changing rapidly. A separate series of projections showing the 20-year average growing season temperatures shows while very few areas hit the 13pc optimum temperature for Chardonnay grapes in 1981-2000, the Norfolk climate was ideal for them by 2021-2040, said Prof Dorling.
"Chardonnay was not a good choice for 1981-2000, but it is very good choice for 2021-2040," he said. "In fact it is the sweet spot. Then, surprisingly, by 2061 to 2080 we've gone beyond a suitable climate for growing Chardonnay, all in a very short period of time. It is a measure of how rapidly the climate is changing."
Prof Dorling was speaking to farmers at the BeetTech20 conference in Newmarket hosted by the Norwich-based BBRO (British Beet Research Organisation).
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