Climate extremes threaten Australia’s wine industry

Winemakers in Australia’s oldest growing region fear a ruined harvest after heavy rainfall, while vineyards in the country’s west are under threat from bushfires, undermining efforts to recover from a near decade-long run of lower exports. Just weeks out from the 2016 harvest, the contrasting events highlight the challenges from climate change, particularly extreme weather, faced by the world’s fourth-largest wine exporter. Not only are wine growing regions getting hotter, weather is also becoming more unpredictable, scientists say.