Reviews

Climate change and wine
«Vinnaya Karta» №4 (95) May 2008

Changing climate is affecting wine production more and more, and the issue has provoked an increasing number of discussions within the sector.

At a recent Climate Change & Wine conference in Barcelona world’s leading scientists and winemakers talked about new climatic realities, as well as possible ways of adaptation of new winegrowing and winemaking approaches.

Issues related to climate change have finally received global attention. Although scientists began to voice their concerns regarding looming climatic crisis several years ago, international community and mass media seriously embraced the problem only after former US vice-president Albert Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in November 2007. They were given this prestigious award for researching the impact of global climate change and for suggesting measures to counteract it.

IPCC studied and analysed the world climate for 20 years (it was founded by World Meteorological Organisation in partnership with the UN environment programme in 1988). IPCC reports are fundamental for understanding of what is happening on our planet. The latest data was released in November 2007 where it was once again stated that “observational evidence from all continents and most oceans shows that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes” (full text can be found at www.ipcc.ch).

Climate is one of the key success factors for agriculture, and it is critical for quality winegrowing. As Richard Smart, recognized world authority on viticulture, put it, wine sector is a canary in the coal mine. Just like the bird is the first to die from lack of oxygen and thus is a warning signal to people, winegrowing is the most sensitive to consequences of climate change in the agricultural sector. This vulnerability pushes the wine industry to react and adapt to new realities quicker. First Climate Change & Wine conference was organized two years ago and gathered 76 participants. The latest forum attracted over 350 guests from 41 countries. Events on this topic were held in other parts of the world, and certain wineries and wine regions initiated projects to reduce the impact of human activities on the environment. Although the effect of climate change is varied (in fact, it has been positive in certain winemaking regions up to now), in a long term view new climatic conditions are likely to change geography of vineyards and to bring about new winegrowing and winemaking practices.

Peter Hayes, president of the International Organisation of Vine & Wine (OIV), opened the conference with a statement that the problem of changing climate affects the interests of all sides — consumers, producers, retail and wholesale chain, and has broad environmental implications. Climate change is not a singular issue of rising temperature. It is about large scale economic decisions, including allocation of soil, water and energy resources and long term planning.

Bernard Seguin who is responsible for climate change research programmes at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) in France, provided analysis of the current climatic situation and its general impact on agriculture.

Global warming is the greatest threat. If cumulative temperature data was relatively stable in 1940-1970s, it has been steadily increasing since 1970s. In 1900 average global temperature was 13,7 degrees Celsius, and in 2000 — 14,3. Eleven of the past twelve years (1995-2006) were the warmest on the record starting from 1850. Yet the heat is distributed unevenly, with more concentration in the Northern hemisphere. Area of seasonally frozen ground decreased by 7% during the past century. The level and surface temperature of the oceans are increasing in the meantime. Greenhouse effect is also more pronounced. Although this effect is a natural phenomenon, higher concentration of greenhouse gases (they include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxide among others) and water vapour in the atmosphere have a negative impact on the planet’s climatic balance.

According to the IPCC analysis, climate change has a multiple effect on agricultural crops. Crop yield is generally falling (though the northern areas enjoy an opposite phenomenon), vegetative cycle is getting shorter and photosynthesis in plants is increasing. Early flowering creates more risks for fruit trees and vines, as spring frosts may destroy future crop. Advanced ripening period brings picking dates towards hot summer days.

Conference presentations of the leading viticultural scientists and winemakers were mainly focused on direct implications of climate change on winegrowing and winemaking.

Dr. Richard Smart, world authority on viticulture, stated that changes are inevitable in the wine sector. “Reputations of wine regions were created by several centuries of more or less stable climate”, he noted. The future threatens to destroy historic link between certain terroirs and grape varieties. Dr. Smart asked a question that is certain to lead to further polemic, “Could it be that in Bordeaux we have already seen the best vintages?”

What will happen in the vineyards if current climatic trends are to be continued? We can expect earlier bud break, flowering, veraison and harvest. French professor Pascal Chatonnet and Scottish winemaker Norrel Robertson MW noted evident shift towards earlier flowering. Nowadays it takes place 2-3 weeks earlier than 20 years ago. Change of colour (veraison) is also 3 weeks ahead of the recent historic dates. Harvest will be picked up earlier, too. We are experiencing this phenomenon already. According to Chatonnet, grapes in the Rhone Valley are picked 4 weeks earlier than 60 years ago. Similar examples can be found in other wine areas.

Vineyards will need more irrigation — this is one of the gravest consequences of the climate change. Vines will suffer more frequently from temperature stress. Vine diseases and pests are likely to change. Cooler regions will yield more reliable quality. Present grape varieties will be less well suited for production of conventional quality and styles. Increased vigour and yields at the expense of quality will be one of the imprints of global warming.

How will wine styles change? Wine will have more alcohol, higher pH and lower acidity. Reds will be less intensely coloured. Whites will lose typical aromatic and flavour profile, and reds will feature more jammy fruit. Production of red wine will perhaps increase at the expense of white wine.

Richard Smart is inclined to think that only a few countries will benefit from climate change. He includes Chile and Argentina in the list of lucky countries thanks to a possibility of planting vineyards at high altitude and availability of plantable land to the south; Tasmania in Australia, New Zealand and Northern Europe thanks to cool climate, and China thanks to suitable temperature and climate conditions inland.

Practical responses for winemakers to combat global warming, according to Smart, are night harvesting, evaporative cooling of vineyards, change of cultivated varieties to those better adapted to warmer conditions and breeding new varieties, especially for hot regions. For the latter he warns against genetic and molecular manipulations. “The research authorities have wasted millions on trying to put a cactus gene in a Chardonnay grape. In 30 years, they expect to have a Chardonnay grape that is adapted to higher temperatures. But in my opinion, this will produce nothing but Chardonnay-flavoured tequila”.

Pascal Chatonnet and Norrel Robertson offer the following ways for vineyard adaptation. More attention should be given to varieties already cultivated in specific zones. In Bordeaux, for example, Malbec and Carmenere can become more widely spread. Besides, there will be longitude and latitude vineyard migrations. Vineyards will move closer to the ocean in California, and there is a need to replant vines more south in Australia. Fine climatic mapping will be used to adapt the right variety to the right place. In Mediterranean-like climates varieties which are common in Languedoc will be used more often — Grenache, Carignan, Marselan and others. Syrah and Petit Verdot may become new varieties in hot Mediterranean climate.

On a small vineyard scale Chatonnet and Robertson talk about shorter pruning for getting fewer fertile buds, eliminating unnecessary shoots and grapes before blooming, green harvesting — which all lead to higher quality of grapes. Winegrowers must also have a full understanding of vineyard soil structures. The choice of right rootstocks and new, more effective irrigation systems are becoming vital for success.

Winemakers, in turn, should monitor phenolic maturation closer and check aromatic profile of grapes. The following approaches and techniques are getting more important during vinification — yeast inoculation, selection of appropriate yeasts, decrease of temperature during fermentation, softer maceration, correction of acidity, reduction of alcohol, reduction of sugar in musts.

Wineries which have successfully introduced new practices and created new business models with a view of climate change are already emerging on the scene. One of the conference speakers was Tony Sharley, managing director of Banrock Station in Australia. The company has pioneered a programme that is efficiently adapted to new environmental and climatic realities.

Banrock Station was acquired by BRL Hardy Wines corporation in 1993. A charter of ecological sustainable development was adopted in the same year. Earlier goals included planting sustainable varieties, disease free vines, use of best irrigation technology and ISO 14001 certification (international environmental standard).

Today Banrock Station covers 1850 hectares in South Australia, Murray River. Half of it is on delta or wetland. Three hundred and fifty hectares are reserved for vineyards, and 220 hectares are already under vine. The company decided to retain wetland and hired scientists in ecology as permanent staff. Wine & Wetland Centre was opened in 1999 to attract eno- and eco-tourists. Banrock Station Good Earth Fine Wine was also created.

Tony Sharley informed that the company works in six directions: vineyards, winery, wine brand, wine & wetland centre, natural landscape and global conservation. Sustainable growing, efficient irrigation (90% of water is used by vine), low water use, no offsite impact on environment, phylloxera free growing, high trellis systems, mulching 5% per year and other practices are used at the vineyards. Practical response to climate change will be water reduction by 50%, mulching 100%, partial dry farming, energy saving policy, measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, research of vineyard carbon sinks.

The winery already runs practices of reduced and more efficient water use, water capture and reuse, ISO 14001 standards, reduced wine movement. A further programme of energy management, greenhouse gas strategies and other activities will be carried out as a response to the changing climate.

In 1995 the company launched Banrock Station Good Earth Fine Wine brand. The packaging is done for consumer awareness of the wetland project. The brand is also sponsor of various conservation and environmental events. Starting from 2007 wine bottles feature a new slogan “Help us help the Earth” on the bottleneck. Recycled packaging and stationery are used for bottling. The company partly uses innovative TetraPak packaging produced with less energy, and researches greenhouse gas emissions for its manufacturing.

Besides, Banrock Station launched initiatives for natural landscape, wine & wetland centre and global conservation which also tackle the issues of climate and environment.

Miguel Torres, a key figure in Spanish winemaking, said in his speech that he will spend 10 mln. euros in the next three years for a new project of planting trees in Tenerife and Penedes. This is part of a general plan for protection and conservation of the environment carried out by Bodegas Torres.

Famous German winemaker Ernst Loosen also took part in the conference and stated that each winegrower and winemaker can initiate changes in their estates. “There is a feeling of collective depression. We can either jump from the bridge or accept new situation and learn how to deal with it”, he said. Loosen believes that everyone should find own solutions. “I want to keep traditional varieties at my vineyards in Mosel and Pfalz, but I also need to learn how to solve new climatic problems. There are different viticultural tricks for that. For example, in difficult, hot 2003 vintage I didn’t do green harvest to avoid overripe grapes. In other cases leaves can be taken out. Our challenge is to learn how to adjust to changes in the right way”, he notes.

Conference participants could experience the impact of changing climate on wine styles through a tasting of 10 white and red wines from various winegrowing regions. The wines were selected and presented by Michel Rolland, one of the most influential consultants, and Jacques Lurton, equally renowned ‘flying’ winemaker.

Their presentation began with a bold statement, “Not since the phylloxera time has there been such a need for the wine industry to review the strategies and techniques ahead”. Later, though Rolland admitted, “climate change has not changed the production techniques”. He also noted that today we drink better quality wines thanks to improvements in viticulture. “There is more sugar in grapes because we want more sugar, and tannins are silky thanks to special techniques”, he stated.

Jacques Lurton finds the impact of climate change more pronounced and talks about altering wine styles in the next 20 years. “In Bordeaux we are already changing rootstocks for less vigorous”, he noted. Lurton also says that some French regions are near their climatic limit for wine production.

Rolland and Lurton asked the conference guests to identify geographic and varietal origin of wines in a blind tasting. And it wasn’t an easy task. Two Alsace wines — Pierre Sparr Riesling Reserve and Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Herrenweg de Turckheim — demonstrated the individuality of wines from various grape varieties within one wine zone in such parameters as alcohol, concentration and body. In the meantime, two Bordeaux wines — white Chateau La Louviere from Pessac-Leognan and red Chateau Fontenil from Fronsac — were presented by two vintages to highlight how different the same wines can be in various weather conditions. Arguably the most memorable was a tasting of Belgian Chardonnay Genoels Elderen 2003 — with a shockingly high level of alcohol at 14% for this northern (from the winemaking point of view) country.

Changing climate is a concern for various aspects of life — from financial to ethical and social. These issues were discussed by Pancho Campo, main organizer of Climate Change & Wine conference. Just to show how grave it can be — financial loss from the loss of crop due to heat in 2003 amounted to 810 mln. euros.

Wine industry produces 0,1% of all global greenhouse gases emissions. Despite a seemingly small figure on a global scale, it still accounts for 5,4 mln. tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, or an equivalent of one million vehicles burning fossil fuels for the same period.

Most emissions produced by the industry come from transporting wine and wine-related materials (such as agrochemicals and barrels) and packaging production. The latter offers the best opportunities. Adaptation of new packaging (bag-in-boxes, tetrapak, large-format bottles and lighter glass), use of recycled packaging, as well as reviewed channels of transportation will allow the wine sector to become one of the ‘greenest’ industries in the world.

Peter Hayes in his presentation noted that The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) adopted a strategic plan for 2005-2008 which analyses the impact of changing climate on winegrowing and winemaking and searches for ways of adaptation for further sustainable development. He called for the industry’s leadership in analysis, evaluation and communication of real opportunities in adapting to climate change; for engaging “captains of industry” and public policy makers; for allocating significant resources — social, intellectual and financial — for international, national and regional events to define future scenarios and suggest adaptive responses, specific to local situations.

Albert Gore, former US vice-president and Noble Peace Prize winner, participated in the conference via videolink. He praised the fact that the wine industry undertook a number of new initiatives in such a short space of time. Yet we are all facing a climatic crisis, and the future of our sector, as well as the future of the planet, will depend upon how seriously we treat the problem and what solutions we develop.