Grape growers in Australia face a new threat to their trade - global warming. An extended drought in the country is wreaking havoc on the wine industry, which in recent years has developed a strong worldwide presence. Winemakers are trying to find ways to survive the season by re-evaluating the types of wine they produce and the regions that might be able to support them. However, despite the best efforts to save their livelihood, many growers are still predicting a bleak outcome and doubting their ability to survive this harvest.

"On the back of three very ordinary years, this year is probably the worst that could have occurred with the drought and the high costs of water," said Michael de Palma, a mid-sized grower in Redcliffe near Mildura in the Murray Valley, one of the country's three big wine regions. "In this depressed situation, growers have only two choices, stick it out as long as they can or to cut their losses and get out," said de Palma, who is part-way through a weather-influenced early harvest on his 40-hectare vineyard.

The three biggest grape-growing regions in Australia have experienced have been severely impacted by global warming, with last year being one of the hottest and driest years on record for the area . Some grape growers have had to borrow money to buy water, while others haven't been able to afford it at all. There is a current prediction making its way around industry experts that as many as 1,000 growers of the 7,000 may abandon ship this season if their financial situation doesn't improve.

Countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. rely on Australia as a chief supplier of imported wines, with imports of the product accounting for $3 billion. Not exactly pocket change, now is it?

Hit the jump to read more about the short and long-term impacts climate change is having on wine production in Australia.

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