Climate change
Every year we can see that our climate is changing at a rapid pace. In the Netherlands too, we see higher temperatures and longer periods of drought. In fact, a study in 2013 has shown that by 2050, viticulture in Bordeaux and southern Europe (the red areas on the map) will become extremely problematic. The climate for winegrowing in countries such as Germany, Belgium, England and the Netherlands (blue on this map) would even be ideal in 2050.
Because the modern grape varieties are much more resistant to diseases and fungi, we can harvest these grapes later in the year, so that they can still get enough sunshine in the Netherlands.
This number of sunshine hours is most important for proper ripening of the grape. At Domein Bergen we have an average of 1650 hours of sunshine per year. Much more than in the rest of the Netherlands. Modern grape varieties require about 1150 hours of sunshine per year to fully ripen.
