Top winemaker says climate crisis may force it to abandon ancestral vineyards

A leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years' time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.

- Sarah Butler

Familia Torres is already installing irrigation at its vineyards in Spain and California and planting vines on land at higher altitudes as it tries to adapt to more extreme conditions.

"Irrigation is the future. We do not rely on the weather," said its 83-year-old president, Miguel Torres. "I don't know how long we can stay here making good wines, maybe 20 or 30 years, I don't know. Climate change is changing all the circumstances."

The family has been making wine in Catalonia since 1870, but Torres said: "In 30 to 50 years' time maybe we have to stop viniculture here.

"Tourists are very important for Catalonia and we are very close to Barcelona. This area could be for activity for tourists, but viniculture I don't think is going to be here."