Keep calm and wine on, no matter the climate:

WHEN AN Oregon valley, famed for its wine, heats up under the afternoon sun, Pacific Ocean winds rush through a dip in the mountains, cooling the grapes in Jeff Havlin’s vineyards.

The Van Duzer Corridor, the lowest point in Oregon’s Coast Range, has become a go-to place for wineries and vineyards hedging their bets against climate change.

Winemakers and vineyard owners in a 95-square-mile (246-square-kilometre) section of the corridor have applied to become the newest American Viticultural Area, with the wind its predominant feature.

“When the temperature drops, you need a jacket in August,” said Havlin, who on a recent afternoon was driving a utility vehicle through his vineyards.

From South Africa’s drought-stricken vineyards to France’s noble chateaus to sunny vineyards in Australia and California, growers and winemakers say they are seeing the effects of climate change as temperatures rise, with swings in weather patterns becoming more severe.

So they are taking action, moving to cooler zones, planting varieties that do better in the heat, and shading their grapes with more leaf canopy.

As areas once ideal for certain grapes become less viable, causing earlier harvests and diminished wine quality as grapes ripen faster, once-iffy sites like the Van Duzer Corridor are coming into their own.

Northern California’s Petaluma Gap, which like the Van Duzer Corridor sucks in ocean breezes, was designated one of America’s newest viticultural areas in December. Receiving an American Viticulture Area designation allows winemakers to emphasise the unique characteristics of their wine, determined by climate, geography, soil and other factors.

“Even though we have those heatwaves just like Napa and Sonoma, we still have the cool breeze in the afternoon and the cooler temperatures at night and the fog in the morning,” said Ria D’Aversa, director of ranch operations at McEvoy Ranch, a Petaluma Gap vineyard.

The area’s slogan: ‘From wind to wine’.

California winemaker Ehren Jordan said: “People would have looked at you like you had three heads if, 30 years ago, you told someone you were going to grow wine grapes there.”

His Failla winery, based in the Napa Valley, recently bought 80 acres (32 hectares) in the Van Duzer Corridor and opened a winery nearby. The corridor now has a half-dozen wineries and at least 17 commercial vineyards, with more on the way.

Grapevines can tolerate heat and drought, and dry farming is traditionally practised in parts of Europe. But the past four years have been the planet’s hottest on record, and more warming is expected.

Even minor weather variations that