Climate change to hit Australian wine industry

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Global warming will force changes to Australia's A$4.8 billion (1.9 billion pound) wine export industry, threatening the very existence of some varieties as temperatures rise, a scientist said on Monday.

With Australia in the grip of its worst recorded drought and heading into a searing summer, the country's biggest science organisation, the CSIRO, said wine growers needed to re-think plans to cope with climate change or face possible ruin.

"With earlier harvest in a warmer climate, the temperature of the ripening period in some regions will become too warm to produce balanced wines from some or maybe all grape varieties growing there now," lead researcher Leanne Webb told Reuters.