It's too soon to call a wine shortage, but California's ongoing drought is causing problems for Napa's famous vineyards. The AP reports that vines are ripening early, while farmers, heeding the call to conserve water, are planting fewer crops:

Vineyard owners are pruning earlier than usual and on a shorter schedule, Domenick Bianco of Renteria Vineyard Management said. If the Valley does not see late winter or spring rains, 2014 will yield a smaller crop. "Water amount determines yield. If you use 80 percent less water than last year, you could see 80 percent of the crop," Bianco said.

We've been warned that this kind of thing could start to happen. A study from last year predicted that, as a result of climate change, traditional wine country regions like Napa may experience sharp declines in production by 2050. Other regions may end up benefiting from their new climates -- Vermont vintners say rising temperatures have allowed them to produce new, warmer-weather varieties -- but, as with coffee, wine is one of those fragile commodities that will get hit hard by climate change, and could end up serving as a bellwether for what's to come.

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Many winemakers do have access to underground aquifers, which will keep them in business for the time being. But Napa's looking ahead to a future where water resources are further limited. E&E News has more from a recent gathering of over 100 local grape farmers: