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PREMIUM

Drought: A thirst for answers in Spain

How are Spanish producers preparing for a future with less water? And how might their actions reshape the identity of some of the country’s flagship regions and vineyards?

Arguments over why – or whether – global warming is happening abound; there are more than a few scenarios out there, and increasingly popular are theories in which human activity isn’t responsible for any of it: wonderfully convenient.

But it’s hard (impossible?) to argue with the fact that the climate has changed and is likely to continue to do so.

Those of us working in the wine industry have long been the canary in this coal mine, squawking and getting increasingly worried as average temperatures – measured on a daily basis by weather stations in every major wine region and tracked at a macro level over decades – continue to climb across the world.

With this has come the rise of previously overlooked cooler-climate wine regions and a re-evaluation of long-established grape varieties in classic, established regions. It has also led to higher alcohol levels resulting from riper fruit – and, without question, drastic changes in weather patterns and extreme weather events.

‘In reality we’re producing maybe 30%-40% of what we made in 2021 – it’s not sustainable’

Dominik Huber, Terroir al Límit

Much of this can be managed, but long-term weather patterns are, unfortunately, beyond our control. The most dangerous of these in the context of wine is undoubtedly drought.


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