Hip Tastes Blog

Hot Damn!
filed under: Ramblings

Word has it that global warming has finally hit the wine scene in a major way. According to a report in respected British wine pub Decanter earlier this month, ice wine - the fabulously expensive dessert wine made from frozen grapes - won't even be produced in much of the world due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

'All hope is lost' is how Ernst Buscher of the German Wine Institute frankly put it to Decanter.

He went on to explain that, because much of wine grape growing Germany hasn't experience enough of the requisite low temperature of about 18 degrees Fahrenheit (or lower) this winter they simply can't make the stuff. He then compared the languishing un-frozen grapes on the vine to food left in a broken refrigerator. Eek - I must say a poignant (and scary) comparison.

On the other hand, Canada's Okanagan Valley - another prime spot for IceWine production, as they call it, had a banner year. Producers there did note, however, that the past few years in this area near Vancouver, BC have shown other signs of global warming, such as migratory animals sticking around longer and increased plantings of Pinot Noir, a grape variety generally held to be unfit for such cool temps.

Because most of the wine growing regions of the world are concentrated inside what I like to call the "wine friendly" bands situated between 30 and 50 degrees latitude north and south of the equator, this brings up yet another interesting question. With the onset of global warming, are we going to see the regions of vine suitability extending...upward? Logic would seem to say yes. The reason that grapes traditionally haven't done well above 50 degrees is it's too cool; below 30 and it's too - yes - hot.

Will we soon be growing Chardonnay in Quebec and harvesting ice wine is Oslo? Stay tuned.

Quick aside on GW'ing:
I've been reading more stats on global warming - all of which are frightening - but this is really the first time the phenomenon has really resonated with me. Maybe that sounds shallow, because I had to wait until it impacted the good stuff rather than just thousands of animal species/deteriorating glaciers/disappearing wetlands and the like. If that's the case then I completely own up to it.

But the fact of the matter is that global warming is petrifying and I don't really think that any of us wants to believe it's really here. Maybe for everyone there needs to be a similar wake up call that places the problem squarely in their consciousness, front and center. Whatever. Here's to hoping we all wake up and start to do something about it. And no, it's not just because it threatens the good stuff!

Want to read more about how global warming's impacting the world's vineyards?
Here's a link to a follow up article on Decanter titled "Winemakers fear 2007 global warming threat"

Posted by Courtney on January 10, 2007 03:06 PM