Global warming is killing vineyards in southern Spain, threatening a US$2.4 billion wine industry and forcing grape growers to move to cooler climes of the Pyrenees, reports www.bloomberg.com.

Winemakers from Europe's largest grape-growing nation are shading vineyards, developing heat-resistant crops and moving to mountainside locations. Temperatures may rise 7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, says Jose Manuel Moreno, Professor of Climatology at the University of Castilla La Mancha.

"Warming will harm plants that last more than one season, such as grape vines, the most," Moreno told Bloomberg. Any increase in temperatures may make it impossible to produce wine in lower areas, says Xavier Sort, Technical Director of Miguel Torres SA, whose wines are being imported into India by TT&G.

Miguel Torres SA, based near Barcelona, is buying fields in the peaks of northeastern Spain, where the weather is cooler, Sort said, adding: "There may be a move of wineries into the Pyrenees in the future."

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