Global warming will cause 'untold upheaval' to wine industry
March 26, 2009
By Guy Woodward
One of Australia's leading voices in the wine industry has warned producers that they face untold upheaval if they are to combat the effects of global warming.
Dr Tony Jordan, formerly the head of Moet Hennessy's Australasian portfolio, including Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay, and now a high profile consultant, claimed that producers 'are in denial about climate change'.
Speaking at last week's inaugural International Sparkling Wine Symposium, Jordan predicted that 'vineyards being planted now are going to be in the wrong place in 30 years' time'.
He was quick to clarify that his comments weren't limited to producers of sparkling wine, however. 'There's no doubt that quality will decrease for varietals traditionally planted in a particular region,' he said. The effect would be most keenly felt in the northern hemisphere, due to its comparitive greater land mass and lesser ocean influence.
'Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne will become marginal for their styles,' he said. 'They'll have to migrate, which means different terroir and a possible change in styles.
'It's going to be a damn nuisance picking up your vineyard and putting it somewhere else. In the Yarra Valley we can move from the valley floor up the mountainside. We don't have to move far, but we do have to move – if we're going to stick to the same varieties.'
English wine producers would benefit in the short term, he added, even pointing to research from Professor Richard Selley of Imperial College London that suggests it will be warm enough to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the north of England by 2080. However, producers faced the challenge of deciding 'whether they are planting for 10, 20 or 50 years' time – the picture is constantly changing.'
The symposium was organised by a UK-based committee and featured presentations from Jordan, sparkling wine authority Tom Stevenson and Dominique Demarville, chef de cave at Veuve Clicquot, plus a tasting of sparkling wines from across the globe.
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Dr Tony Jordan makes a very interesting observation that wine producers 'are in denial about climate change'. He goes on to predict that 'vineyards being planted now are going to be in the wrong place in 30 years' time'. I wonder perhaps if we aren't all driving toward a brick wall and debating the use of the windscreen wipers. If climate change is significant enough to completely shift climatic zones and the agricultural production connected with those zones, I have a feeling people will have a few other priorities beyond drinking premium wine. Nonetheless I look forward to drinking my first Antarctic Pinot Noir.
Sean Blocksidge
These type of comments are very short sighted – it assumes that the wines of today are the same as ever and taste and styles will never change. What rot. The wines we make in 30 years time will no more be the same as those of today, than those of today are the same as thirty years ago!
John Griffiths, Faber Vineyard, Western Australia
This is more of the same alarmism we get from Al Gore et al. There is no doubt Australia seems most effected by current conditions but when I visited in 2002 I believe I am correct in stating that many of the wine growing regions of Australia experienced the coldest January, February and March in 25-50 years. It appears Mr. Blocksidge would have the world simply spend the $180B a year for the next 100 years to delay the onset of global warming, all 4.7 degrees of it, by a whole 6 years. This from the UN's IPCC. When will the world have a real debate on this very important issue? When will the chicken littles take a deep breathe and consider some sound, scientific alternatives to the hysteria that is force fed to the global population? Why do the alarmist personally attack the skeptics rather the substance of the skeptics' arguments? Can you honestly dismiss the findings of the Copenhagen Consensus without a serious debate? The world has been told since 1989 that if this problem is not solved in the next 10 years the climate will be irreparably damaged. Well here we are all in 2009 and we are still be fed the same hysteria and the globe has not warmed since 1998. By the way, I don't mind if the Mosel becames the new Burgundy and Burgundy becomes the new Rhone. Who is the wine progressive now?
Larry O'Brien, VineOne, Las Vegas, USA
Like Dr. Jordan I have found I can have great insight into fields in which I have no knowledge. Or, at least it seems that way to me.
Morton Leslie
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