(Decanter) - Michel Chapoutier has spoken exclusively to Decanter.com about his frustration over the recent press reports claiming the winemaking map will be entirely redrawn by 2050.

The scientific community in this study is holding the truth hostage,’ Chapoutier said. ‘I am in no way a global warming denier, and am shocked not by the study itself, but by its conclusions.’  Chapoutier, the Rhone winemaker renowned for his Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage, and who also produces acclaimed Australian, Portugese and Alsace wines, specifically drew attention to the claims that winemaking will become difficult or impossible in the existing regions of France.

‘It may be true that you will be able to plant Syrah in Beaujolais, but that in no way means that the Rhone Valley will become impossible. The conclusions the study draws are exaggerated and full of mistakes – and clearly made by people who have no practical experience of winemaking’.