Just imagine gathering with friends and family to celebrate the big news. Empty wine glasses sparkle as if anticipating the contents to come as you remove the cork from the special bottle of Champagne that you've been saving. As you fill the glasses, you take note of the appearance of this spectacular wine - the deep ruby red color and almost inky opaque denseness. Red wine with no bubbles called Champagne? Is this a bad dream?

For the short term future, perhaps it is only a bad dream. There is no denying the fact that global warming is having an impact on agriculture around the planet, and wine grapes are not excluded. In the present, it seems as though global warming is a good thing for wine grapes, and the wines produced from them. Sotheby's vintage rating scale, an accepted measure of the quality of different vintages, shows more consistent ratings and an average increase in quality.

But the future may not be the days of wine and roses. A study on the impact of climate change in California on numerous crops, including wine crops, published in the December 2006 Agriculture & Forest Meteorology predicts that "without fertilization or adaptation measures, projected crop losses could be greater than 40%." If there is a positive aspect to focus on, it is that adaptive measures can be employed to stay ahead of climate change. California grape growers are free to plant whatever type of grapes they want to, but all varietals are extremely sensitive to the climate in which they grow. They require different degrees of sunshine, rain, heat and temperature range not to mention nutrients from different soils. So if temperatures get too warm for the vines of Pinot Noir, a finicky grape that thrives in cooler climates, the vineyards can be replanted with another varietal that will prefer the warmer climate, such as Syrah.

Most European countries do not have this luxury. France and Italy are the two largest wine producing countries in the world, and are also two of the oldest wine producing countries in the world. The structure of the wine industry in these older European regions, referred to as the "Old World," is quite different than it is in the US or any of the "New World" regions such as Argentina or Australia. In France and Italy, grape growers are not free to plant whatever variety they choose. There are laws that are designed to ensure quality to protect the consumer regarding authenticity of a wine product. To do this, governing bodies allow wines from various geographic areas to be made from very specific grapes. For example, a red wine from France's Burgundy region must be made from either Pinot Noir or Gamay or the producer cannot label his wine as being a wine from Burgundy.

These rules are rooted in centuries of careful documentation in Europe, and they have served the wine industry there quite well. Change in wine laws of Europe is hard to imagine after centuries of being memorized by sommelier students. Change will be driven by economics. In 2007, vineyards across Europe were harvesting three weeks earlier than normal, which may have a negative impact on quality. If this continues, vineyards will have little choice but to replant their land with grapes that will thrive in the warmer climates.

It is possible that we may see sparkling wines which we now associate with Champagne being produced as far north as Finland. Maybe, just maybe, spectacular red wines like those of France's Bordeaux region that are so cherished by British aristocracy, could be grown and produced on farmland outside of London. And just maybe when you pop the cork on a bottle of Champagne, instead of the old bubbles synonymous with celebrations for centuries, you'll get a hearty red wine that you currently associate with the Rhone region. Just maybe, things may change...