render unusable

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me your considered opinion concerning the interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

The culprit is the world’s warming climate, which could render 50% of the land currently used to grow pinot noir, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon grapes unsuitable.

render = cause to be

render unusable = disqualify

V.

[J&K Tutoring]

50% of the land currently used to grow pinot noir, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon grapes unsuitable.

Unsuitable means not good for the mentioned purpose.

Let's recall that grapes are often grown on soil that is already considered unsuitable for most purposes- arid, rocky, steep terrain, etc. The resulting difficulty that the vines have in growing and setting fruit has the effect of concentrating the fruit sugars, which improves the resulting wine.

The growing popularity of wine drinking, added to the perceived glamour of the wine industry has probably caused some land to be planted with vines that perhaps shouldn't be, so a 50% reduction is not necessarily a sign of impending global disaster...