From lighting candles and heating wires to experimenting with varieties and altitude, vineyard owners are working overtime to maintain quality and yield. Richard Woodard reports.
Climate change deniers should probably look away now. “There’s a real evolution of the wine style in Chablis,” says Simonnet-Febvre GM & winemaker Paul Espitalié. “Fifty years ago, the wine was a bit acid and not as rich as it is today. We really have an impact of the weather changing in Chablis — much more balanced wines, much more fruit.”
If that doesn’t sound so bad, there’s a flipside: devastating and increasingly regular spring frosts, exacerbated by higher temperatures in February and March, which kickstarted the vines’ vegetative cycle, leaving them vulnerable to cold snaps in April. Remedies include sprinkling water, lighting candles or using heating wires to protect the buds, but now research is looking at new clones of Chardonnay that start their production cycle later in the year.
Chablis is one example of the complexity of the impact of climate change on the world’s vineyards — and how that impact can be both positive and negative, at least in the short term. Some regions, such as Margaret River in Australia, may even become cooler if Antarctic ice melts, lowering sea temperatures and thus making maritime breezes cooler.
Nor is the world of spirits unaffected by these issues. “We are seeing tangible impacts on our vineyard concerning the vegetative cycle,” says Cognac Frapin communications manager Thomas Soret. “We harvest earlier in the year. We also noticed the phenomenon of extreme weather — hail — becoming more regular, and with more intensity.”
Warmer summers mean higher sugar levels in the grapes, and higher alcohol. For Cognac, says Rémy Martin cellar master Baptiste Loiseau, that’s a problem, creating difficulties with fermentation as yeasts struggle to convert all the sugar to alcohol. What’s more, lower levels of natural acidity raise the threat of bacterial infection, as sulphur cannot be used during winemaking.
“We are harvesting much sooner to keep the acidity and lower the level of alcohol,” Loiseau explains. “Winemakers are told to focus not just on sugar and alcohol, but acidity and grape health too.”
How the past can help solve the problems of the future
In the longer term, more proactive measures will be needed — either growing dominant Cognac grape variety Ugni Blanc in a different way, for instance, with more leaves to slow ripening, or exploring alternative cultivars.
One such example is Monbadon, a cross of Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche that was abandoned in Cognac decades ago because of its late ripening. Now, Loiseau and others are experimenting with the variety — which as yet cannot legally be used to make Cognac — with promising results. “It’s doing really well in Grande Champagne,” he says.
Climate change isn’t a problem limited only to those who own vineyards. Champagne Gosset has almost no vines of its own, but still has to confront the effects of rising temperatures when it comes to winemaking.
For Gosset, lees maturation is a keystone to its house style — more so than the maturity of grapes per se, says cellar master Odilon de Varine. “The main threatening impact of climate change to us is the high level of maturity of the grapes, because it comes with a lower level of malic acid, which is quintessential to the Gosset style,” he explains. “As a consequence, we try to aim for relatively early grape-picking in the hot years, in order to keep the balance we are looking for.” De Varine also closely monitors the acidity level in the musts, and rejects any that are too low in malic acid.
From the early 1990s to about 2010, climate change was generally viewed as a positive force for Champagne, with greater bunch weights leading to increases in yields, plus better-quality wines thanks to greater ripeness at harvest time. Today, however, there are signs that things are changing, and not for the better.
Pommery chef de cave Clément Pierlot highlights earlier budburst as increasing the risk of spring frost damage (similar to Chablis), as well as more intense bad weather, coupled with higher temperatures, driving a greater incidence of problems such as mildew. The net result, he says, is still greater quality, but a reduction in agronomic yields — something the region is now trying to address through changes to production rules.
As the biggest business by some distance in both Champagne and Cognac, Moët Hennessy is only too aware of the challenges of climate change — as evidenced by the company’s ‘Living Soils Living Together’ sustainability programme, and the opening in 2021 of its EUR20m (US$20.5m) Robert-Jean de Vogüé Research Centre, devoted to scientific research into sustainability.
Average temperatures in Champagne have risen by 1.1°C over the past three decades, points out a spokesperson for Moët Hennessy’s sustainability team, bringing earlier harvests (by 15 to 20 days) and a string of “exceptional” vintages. But, adds the spokesperson, “we are profoundly aware that these conditions are only temporary, and that the wider impacts of climate change are already being felt. The Champagne region is already experiencing increasingly unstable climatic conditions, with more extreme weather events, such as intense hail and frosts during the growing seasons”.
As a result, the company is working on a broad range of measures, from experimenting with new varieties to planting cover crops between the rows and exploring the potential of agroforestry to prevent erosion and encourage biodiversity.
A similar tune, with local variations, is playing out in the vineyards of the Iberian peninsula, home to Zamora Co-owned Rioja winery Ramón Bilbao, and Portuguese wine giant Sogrape. More consistent ripening, yes, but at what long-term cost?
Remedies vary from the granular to the more philosophical. Ramón Bilbao R&D manager & winemaker Rosana Lisa outlines a long list of possible measures in the vineyard, such as late pruning, canopy management and shifts in the orientation of the vines, as well as planting at higher altitudes.
Winemaking techniques include yeast selection to suppress the production of ethanol, cooler fermentations and shorter macerations conducted prior to fermentation — all aiming to preserve the wine’s freshness and aromatic qualities. For António Graça, head of R&D at Sogrape, “close monitoring and a timely, adaptive business strategy” are key, along with managing short- and long-term options and processes. With these tools, he argues, “there should be no locations or subregions with reasons to fear the future”.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be problems — just that the company will be equipped to tackle them when they arise.
“Within 50 years,” says Lisa, “the wine map of our country will have changed. In the first place, to areas of higher altitude and cooler temperatures — especially in areas with greater Atlantic influence. We already have clear examples of balanced red wines in Galicia.
“There may be opportunities for hybrids, such as PIWIs [new fungus-resistant grape varieties], but we mustn’t forget the old vines, consolidated in the ground, resistant and with a complex root structure capable of rescuing the hidden humidity that our soils present.”
Sometimes we have to look to the past to address the problems of the future — and climate change is no exception.
This article appeared in the September issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
