Climate change is turning these unexpected regions into the next wine hotspots

The global winemaking map could soon change forever.

Rising temperatures are threatening some of France's most esteemed wine-growing regions, researchers from NASA and Harvard discovered in a study published earlier this month in the journal Nature.

The study found that hotter climates have made early grape harvests more frequent in France. 

That's generally a good thing — warmer climates lead to faster grape maturation, and higher-quality wines. But in the next few decades, global warming could make regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy completely inhospitable for its signature grapes.

And France isn't the only country affected. A 2013 paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences predicted that as much as 73% of today's wine-growing land will be lost to climate change by the year 2050.

As Old-World wine bastions like France, Spain and Italy start overheating, previously unthinkable regions will suddenly become the world's next wine hotspots.

Take a look at where the great wines of the future could be coming from:

China

China is undertaking a multibillion-dollar project to transform its Ningxia desert region into a wine oasis.

There are about 50 wineries in Ningxia, which is about 500 miles west of Beijing.

The region boasts 80,000 acres of vineyards, and that number is expected to more than double by 2020, according to CBS News. That would triple the acreage of California's famed Napa Valley.

Within the next 20 years, Chinese consumption of wine is expected to exceed that of the US, making it the top wine-consuming nation in the world, according to The Wall Street Journal.

However, like any other emerging wine market, it could take a while before consumers around the world take Chinese wine seriously, said Gregory Jones, an environmental studies professor at Southern Oregon University.

"If we see Chinese wine on our shelves in the US, do we buy it? How long does it take before we trust that product?" Jones told Business Insider.  "Until they reach a place where they can produce enough where they can market it to another region, it's going to be difficult."

Sweden

While most of Sweden is far too chilly to support grapevines, a softening climate has opened the door for vineyards along the southern coast. 

There are 330 grape-growing farms and counting in this traditionally vodka-drinking nation, according to a Södertörn University researcher.

“It is clear that we now have an extra month in the growing season each summer,” winemaker Håkan Hansson told The Guardian.

Still, Swedish viticulturists face more than just climatic challenges — the nation's strict alcohol laws forbid vineyards from selling their bottles on-site.

Montana

Montana boasts just eight wineries now, but PNAS researchers expect the western half of the state to be a player in the wine scene by 2050.

“I’ve been growing grapes here 15-plus years, and I’ve seen a distinct warming pattern,” said Andy Sponseller, co-owner of the Missoula, Montana-based Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery, according to The Missoulian.

"We had three 26-degree days after May 13. We had two sub-freezing days in mid-September," Sponseller said. "Fifteen years ago, it was not unusual to have those after Labor Day, but in the past 10 years, that’s become an erratic event.”