Pomerol bans chemical weed control

Megan Mallen, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In France, Pomerol is the first AOC to totally ban chemical weed control. Apparently, Corsica and Provence are considering the same. Moreover, Bordeaux’s right bank appellation has made tillage and grass cover mandatory for vineyard management. Since 1936, the planting of white grape varieties has been strictly prohibited in Pomerol with Merlot (pictured) being the dominant grape in the AOC.

In other news, France has launched an unprecedented year-long study in six wine-growing regions to determine if people living near vineyards are at greater risk of exposure to pesticides. Among the pesticides that will be tracked are glyphosates, folpel and copper, despite the latter being widely used in organic farming. 

Meanwhile, the Sustainable Wine Roundtable wants to define and uphold global sustainability standards but creating a globalized definition and standard for sustainability in wine across all sectors of the industry, from viticulture and winemaking, through packaging and retail, will be no easy task. It's expected to take about 2 years to develop the standards. 

But sustainability just means preserving the status quo. It's much better to improve the soil and biodiversity. Great explanation of regenerative agriculture. 

We might even be able to sell carbon credits. 

Planting trees may help vintners

Flowers opening top left

I came across an article in Yale Climate Connections about how planting trees in vineyards in the south of France can help vintners maintain the quality of their grapes as the climate warms. Alex planted a row of horse chestnut trees alongside the vineyard. We also planted an orchard below and forestry above -- to protect against the fierce Atlantic storms not to provide shade as the French are doing. I'm afraid we're not going to need shade. Our grapevines have just bloomed and there are no grapes forming yet. In contrast, people with vines in glass houses and polytunnels are already starting to pick some of their grapes. 

Vineyard behind donkeys to the right

Vineyard surrounded by trees

Yale Climate Connections article. 

Growing vines among the pines.

World wine production plummets

The Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) in its press release called it "A historically low 2017 production especially in Western Europe due to unfavourable climate conditions."  GLOBAL ECONOMIC VITIVINICULTURE DATA estimated 2017 World wine production  at 246.7 mhl, a fall of 8.2% compared with 2016.

Proof of terroir

My recent interest in malbec has led me to discover that vintners in California and in France have started producing their own malbecs. Those in France naturally claim that it's the original home of the malbec grape. Forget that they virtually gave up on that grape a long long time ago.

Argentina produces a stunning wine from the malbec grape grown in the high altitudes of the Mendoza region. So now everyone wants to bring back their version of malbec. Of course, there are folks out there who think that terroir is a bunch of nonsense. They suggest that it's all up to the grape and the vintner. So they plant some on rootstock in California; but the malbec grapes in Mendoza are on their original roots before Phylloxera. Now, I wonder if the malbec in Bordeaux was transplanted onto American root stock. I'll have to look that up. I think it would have been.