Whether it
is toys, computers or silk sarees from India, China
can make more and cheaper. Now Mother Nature is also
benevolent. With global warming to its aid China is
set to become a prominent wine producing country in
a few decades.
Speaking at the Climate Change and
Wine Conference in Barcelona which was reported in
the previous
issue of delWine, the Australian consultant
on viticulture, Dr Richard Smart said: "In 30
years time, China will be a country better able to
adapt to global warming." He was talking on 'global
warming and its impact on vines and viticulture' at
the conference.
Dr. Smart is already involved in
advising Chinese investors looking to purchase suitable
wine producing land and they are currently looking
at an area close to Beijing.
Smart said that while China, currently
8th largest producer of grapes in the world is very
wet near the coast and more arid towards the inland,
would provide exciting opportunities in the future,
going northwards.
Southern hemisphere regions like
Chile, Argentina, Tasmania and New Zealand, as well
as Northern Europe and even some parts of China are
'lucky', Smart suggested, as there was room for growers
to move to cooler or higher areas to plant grapes.
Growing new varieties of grapes
especially for hotter regions would be a crucial industry
response to ongoing global warming, he said. Smart
also suggested harvesting at night and the utilization
of classical breeding rather than molecular techniques
as a potential solution.
The conference kicked off with an
address from Pancho Campo, President of the Wine Academy
of Spain, and local politicians. A spokesman from
the Catalan department of climate said, 'There is
no point crying over spilt milk. We have to find solutions
for our problems and that is exactly what we intend
to do today."
President of OIV, the International
Organisation for Vine and Wine, Peter Hayes said the
challenges being posed by climate change to the wine
sector were reflected across the world. 'I hope we
might see action on regional planning" adding
that it was a question of allocation of resources.'
Bordeaux Must Change Varietals
Too
'Bordeaux should explore the possibility
of switching grape varietals in facing climate change,'
was also the conclusion of Bruno Prats, winemaker
and former owner of Chateau Cos D'Estournel, and another
winemaker from Bordeaux, Jacques Lurton.
Discussing the opportunities available
by adapting grape varietals in the region, Prats said:
"When facing the issue of climate change, strength
of Bordeaux is in the possibility of changing grape
varietals. Petit Verdot is the grape with the most
potential in this regard." He conceded that there
were many other possibilities in Bordeaux with Malbec
also playing an important part.
Lurton concurred by saying: "Petit
Verdot and Malbec allow us to explore new opportunities
with regard to climate change," implying that
many wine grape growing regions would become unsuitable
for their current varietals.
Citing sources like the Inter-governmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the French INRA
(national agronomic research institute) , Dr Smart
said there is evidence that changes in temperature
of even one degree translate into dramatically different
weather.
'I would ask anyone with a cellar
full of known value wines, have you thought about
the fact that in Bordeaux, we may have already seen
the best vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon?' he said.
Pascal Chatonnet, another oenologist
and consultant winemaker taking part in the panel
discussion said,' the choice of variety would be a
crucial one with winemakers now having to think 25
to 30 years ahead'.
Adaptation to the unavoidable climate
change has been an important issue across the two-day
conference.
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