A few years ago, when I told a colleague that in Champagne we were experimenting with different grape varieties to fight against global warming, he was incredulous. “You mean different clones, surely?” Varieties not completely different. The idea that champagne might soon taste different was a step too far, even for a wine insider familiar with the viticultural challenges of climate change.
It wouldn’t be today. With each passing year, we become more aware that the world is warming and, sadly, more familiar with extreme weather events that devastate the landscape and local communities.
Earlier this month, unusually heavy rain caused deadly flash floods in Germany and Belgium on a scale that shocked the world. The Ahr Valley in Germany, whose main activity is viticulture, was one of the hardest hit regions.
The 38 wine estates in the region have lost their cellars, barrels and bottles; in one case, a heavy wine press was swept away by the deluge. Meike and Dörte Näkel, sisters and fifth-generation winemakers, lost their family business but were grateful to have escaped with their lives after clinging to a tree for seven hours until a rescue boat come to their aid.
The disaster is part of a sinister pattern. Throughout the world, winegrowers and winegrowers are increasingly confronted with the ravages and damage caused to crops by increasingly capricious weather: hail, spring frosts, mild winters, heat peaks in summer, droughts and floods. , not to mention the forest fires suffered in California and Australia.
Then there is the underlying issue of temperatures. These have steadily increased over the past three decades. This can be seen when we follow the harvest which dates back to the Middle Ages.
In Beaune, Burgundy, between 1354 and 1987, grapes were picked on average from September 28, while from 1988 to 2018, the harvest started on average 13 days earlier, according to a study published in Climate of the past.
This is a trend that has accelerated in recent years. “2008 and 2013 are the last late vintages we had…everything else has been a normal pick date or an early pick date,” says Jacques Devauges of Domaine des Lambrays in Burgundy Côte de Nuits.
Seasonal fluctuations in weather can create big differences in the flavor of wine – which is why everyone talks so much about vintages. The best wines are made in marginal climates, places where the grapes can ripen, but just right, giving the grapes a long growing season and producing fruit with good acidity and finely defined flavors – making wine regions very sensitive to thermal changes.
The upside is that England and Wales owe their exciting new wine industry to global warming. But even here you can see the change in the change. England’s credentials as a sparkling wine region are now so compelling that Taittinger and Pommery have invested in vineyards here. Now, England is also beginning to produce convincing still wines, which require a warmer climate than sparkling wines.
And what about the future? If global temperatures rise by 2°C, wine regions in the Pacific Northwest could rise by 20-100% and those in New Zealand by 15-60%, according to a study published last year in Proceedings of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
But the same study estimated that under this conservative warming scenario (a second scenario considered a 4°C rise), 56% of the world’s current wine regions would be lost as we know them. Some countries would be more affected than others, with Spain and Italy set to lose 65% and 68% of their climate-suited wine regions respectively.
Of course, to a certain extent, it is possible to adapt: this is what Champagne plans to do. Today, almost all champagne is made from one or a combination of three grape varieties: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. However, officially, seven different grape varieties are allowed.
Bollinger is a champagne house that has planted some of the old, forgotten varieties in hopes that slow-maturing petit meslier and arbanne can bring more freshness to champagne in years to come.
On behalf of the entire region, agronomists are also experimenting with new grape varieties, crossing Champagne grape varieties with other grape varieties to see what other solutions they can provide to the issue of global warming. And yes, inevitably these grapes will give wines with a different taste.
In Bordeaux, after a decade of research, four new red grape varieties and two new white grape varieties have been authorized for use in wines from the region. The red varieties Arinarnoa (a cross between Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon), Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional, as well as White Alvarinho and Liliorila (a Baroque and Chardonnay cross) were selected for their ability to cope with seasons of shorter growth periods, higher temperatures and increased water stress.
The idea is that these could be insinuated into the blend to balance the wines without creating drastic flavor differences, although that doesn’t mean the wines would taste the same.
Some scientists have suggested that if temperatures continue to rise, the only way to continue producing good wine in Burgundy, for example, is to rip out Pinot Noir and replace it with Grenache or Mourvèdre. To which we must answer: would it even be Bordeaux if it were not made of Pinot Noir?
Between 1967 and 2010, the Douro Valley in Portugal recorded a 1.7°C increase in average temperature throughout the growing cycle, from budburst to harvest, and in spring 2017 the region experienced rare drops snow and localized frosts.
This prompted Adrian Bridge, managing director of the Fladgate Partnership, whose brands include Taylor’s Port, to set up the Port Protocol, a platform to help wine producers communicate about how they can manage port. impact of climate change (by moving vineyards to cooler, higher locations, through canopy management and consideration of different grape varieties, for example) and reduce their own contribution to global warming.
Marta Mendonca, who manages operations there, tells me that the concern that comes up most often is water: “the need to manage water in a more conscious way”. But as she notes, “More than a problem for wine, the climate crisis is a problem for us as a species.”
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