In April of 2021, winemakers across Europe found themselves battling a freak late frost. At Tenuta di Trinoro, a vineyard in Tuscany, it took a 24-strong team several hours one blistering cold night to set out and light up 3,500 candles to keep the fragile young buds of the vines from freezing. Then, as a summer of brutal sun and droughts drew to a close, the vineyard had to expedite the harvest to avoid ending up with a sugary, high-alcohol product.

Data released during the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in November 2021 has revealed that these extreme weather events and rising temperatures caused production in the Italian wine industry to drop by 9 percent this year. The report is a stark warning that climate change is having and will increasingly have drastic effects on Italy’s winemaking sector.