SPAIN – The world’s wine industry convened recently at the WineFuture conference in Spain’s Rioja region, with global warming a top concern of attendees, Grist.org reports.
“All over the world, alcohol levels are going up,” said British wine critic Jancis Robinson, citing just one effect of global temperature increases. “Champagne alcohol levels are becoming embarrassingly high.”
While global warming produces some “benevolent effects,” according to Robinson — “Even in England, the grapes are ripening more,” she said. “Someone even planted a vineyard in Norway. Can you believe that?” — of greater concern is a water shortage, which is forcing some wineries to close.
“Farmers in Spain don’t have nearly enough water,” Robinson said, “Spanish wine has always been pretty dry and concentrated, but the last few vintages have reached a crisis point.”
As a result, many wine producers are “going green,” not perhaps motivated by a desire to save the world, but in an effort to save their businesses.
“I want to find new markets, particularly for export. I want to be the first winemaker who eliminates direct CO2 emissions. Nobody does that,” said Manuel Garcia of Rioja’s Bodegas Regalia de Ollauri. “As a commercial argument, it’s very important.”
Garcia installed a geothermal system that has reduced his power bills significantly, a cost savings that has him excited about margins.
“My summertime cooling no cuesta nada (doesn’t cost anything),” he said. “We paid 250,000 Euros to install the system, but we’ll recuperate our investment in four or five years. You might not get vineyard owners to want to save the Earth, but they’ll want to save money.”
Environmental concerns are extending into how winemakers ship their wines and make their bottles, too. At the conference, reference was made to processes that resulted in significant CO2 emissions reductions, along with shipping cost savings.
Still other producers have considered changing physical location, in order to continue operations.
“You can work with latitude or altitude, or switch grapes,” said Miguel Torres, president of Bodegas Miguel Torres. “In 10, 15, or 20 years there’s going to be a frightening change with consequences. If temperatures in Europe go up by five degrees, we won’t be able to grow grapes and I don’t want to have to explain to my grandchildren why we did nothing.”