(Bloomberg) - The U.K.’s 100 million pound ($144 million) wine industry will thrive in warmer temperatures caused by climate change, so long as investors carefully site vineyards and prepare for some poor harvests caused by weather shocks.

That’s the conclusion of scientists at the University of East Anglia in a paper published Friday that finds many British winegrowers may be overestimating the risks that global warming poses to their budding industry.

About two-thirds of the nation’s wine makers think climate change poses a threat to their business, about the same proportion who think it has already helped boost production, according to the stud published in Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research.

“Average temperatures that make vine-growing more viable are increasing,” the study’s lead author Alistair Nesbitt said in an interview. He said the U.K. has been warming faster than the global average since 1960, with eight of the hottest years occurring since 2002.

Higher temperatures have been a key contributor to the U.K.’s 148 percent expansion of vineyard area between 2004 and 2013. Better marketing and increasing consumer appetite in the U.K. for locally produced sparkling wine also helped, the researchers found. While vines have been grown in Britain for more than 1,000 years, recent improvements in wine-making techniques and grape selection are also transforming the industry.

Flowering Season

The downsides of climate change are less apparent currently. Heavier rain in the June flowering season can damage yields, the researchers found. England’s Nyetimber vineyard was forced to abandon its harvest in 2012 after heavy rainfall during the flowering season.

By and large though, the study found British wine makers haven’t been hit by extreme rainfall in June. “There’s no evidence of a change of risk there,” said Nesbitt.

The study has two important messages for British wine investors. They should choose their vineyards carefully and make space in your business plan for weather shocks, Nesbitt said.

“Deciding where you’re going to have your vineyard is more important than ever when we’re in such a marginal climate,” he said. “You need to be able to build into your businesses resilience and preparedness for extreme weather events, because there’s no evidence of those disappearing.”