How one Napa winery is getting ready for climate change

Larkmead Vineyards is set to debut wines from its experimental research block planted in response to climate change.
Charbono is one of many grape varieties Larkmead Vineyards has planted in an experimental research block to get ahead of climate change
In 2019, the greatest threat to California wine was climate change. It felt like a reckoning was coming, especially to Napa Valley, where the future of its crown jewel grape, Cabernet Sauvignon, was being called into question: In 30 years, will it be too hot to produce Cabernet at an elite level? 

“There’s going to come a point with Cabernet in Napa where you have it seared on the outside and completely raw on the inside,” winemaker Dan Petroski told the Chronicle in 2019.