Frost in the Finger Lakes

More climate weirdness, this time in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York. After record warmth caused rapid growth, frost may have severely damaged their crops. 

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Grazing sheep in vineyards

Far out. A vineyard in California is raising the height of its vines to enable grazing of sheep year-round. They also think it's going to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The modified trellis system at Halter Ranch will set the cordon height at 60 inches. The drip irrigation line will sit at 36 inches, allowing the sheep to move freely throughout the vineyards. Naturally, what the sheep eat keeps the weeds in control and will also fertilize the soil. 

There's nothing new about using sheep to control the land in a vineyard. What is new is calling it biodynamic farming and introducing biodiversity as a new concept. How did humans ever let monoculture take hold? 

Fire damage to ancient vines in Crete

Devastation in Crete

Pre-phylloxera vines that were not grafted onto American rootstock were severely damaged in a tragic fire that raged across the island of Crete last week. About 300 vines were burnt in an area that four decades ago had more than 700 acres of old vines, most of which were destroyed by wildfires over the last 20 years, resulting in the abandonment of viticulture and wine production in the area.

Young winemaker Iliana Malihin decided to rescue the remaining vines in 2019. She invested her own money in facilities and convinced growers in the region to bring her their grapes. She created five wine labels to acclaim, and now everything is gone, including the homes of many of the people. 

Iliana was also working to get UNESCO support for the ungrafted vines as world heritage. She has set up a crowdfunding campaign to rebuild the winery; she has high hopes that, because the vines were not irrigated, they have extremely deep roots that may recover. They are starting to see signs of leafing already. But it will take 5 years of tending without revenue to recover. 

The question is do ungrafted vines change the taste of the grapes and the wine? It's a question Decanter undertook to answer but I do not yet have a subscription so I couldn't access the full article. You would think that different roots would contribute to the expression of the terroir. But the 'experts' don't all agree. Some say that because rootstock can affect the vigor, yield, and elemental uptake from the soil, the taste should vary. Others say you wouldn't really notice the difference. 

Instead, they say to select the rootstock to the quality of the soil. I think the only rootstock supplied to us was SO4, so we don't have much choice. But we have stuck sections of vine in the ground where vines have died and they are growing. So perhaps we will see. 

A vine reaches 'adulthood' at around seven or eight years of age. A 'mature' grapevine is said to be anywhere from 12–25 years old. 'Old vines' are usually more than 25 years old. The oldest vine in the world is reputed to be in Slovenia and is almost 500 years old and still producing grapes. Do old vines make a difference?  I don't think we will find out in our lifetimes. 

Then there is the POV that own-root vines are important because the winemakers cultivating them think so. If they think the vines are special, then they will make the effort to make the wines special. I like that idea. 

We are not irrigating to get our vines' roots to grow deep in search of water and unique terroir. Maybe that will be their salvation one day. 

Freedom Blend Moldovan Wine

 

Stunning place I'd love to visit. 

Chateau Purcari Freedom Blend is a dry red wine from Stefan Voda District, Moldova. It is a blend of Bastardo, Saperavi and Rara Neagra with 14.0% abv. You'll like it if you like Malbec or a full-bodied Shiraz. 

"Freedom Blend is an expression of the free spirit, a courageous blend, full of character, from three indigenous grape varieties. It has the heart of Georgia, the terroir of Moldova, and the free spirit of Ukraine." I love that! For those of you who don't know, Putin marched into all three countries and took bits for Russia. This is hugely symbolic. I'd forgotten that Moldova uses Cyrillic some of the time. 

Moreover, the winery has turned all its space, including luxury accommodation and conference rooms into emergency housing for Ukrainians, making room for many people to shelter. I must buy lots of their wine and visit soon. The vineyard took top honours in 2020 the Decanter World Wine Awards. 

Other vineyards are doing the same in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. God bless Ukraine's friends. 

Fires & drought plague the US west coast

Russian River

A major heatwave hit the entire west coast of America last week and was even worse than predicted when a heat dome settled in.  It exacerbated what was already one of the most severe droughts in the region, prompting experts to warn that this could be the worst wildfire season ever. 

The Salt Fire north of Redding California near the Oregon border has consumed more than 11,000 acres and numerous homes and structures. But there are many more fires raging in all the states affected. Authorities warned not to set off fireworks for July 4th celebrations. 

The Russian River Valley where much of California's wine industry is situated is under extreme pressure. The Russian River serves as the main source of drinking water for more than 600,000 people in Sonoma, Mendocino and northern Marin counties. Some of the richest farmland in the nation is being left fallow because the water is running out. 

But it's not just California. Oregon's Williamette Valley suffered unprecedented extreme heat during the heat wave. No one knows how grapes will fare under these conditions. They are hoping that it is early enough in the season for the grapes to be able to withstand it, but Pinot Noir is particularly sensitive to heat. Most of the region grows cool climate grapes, and temperatures were 25 to 30 degrees above normal. 

This is what climate change looks like. 

Sonoma fires

Today, our hearts are with the people of California who again are suffering from the effects of wildfires. The Kincaid fire has ravaged at least three wineries, including the historic Soda Rock Winery which has been in place since the 1800s. All that is left is the stone facade of their main building and a steel sculpture of a boar called Lord Snort, a Burning Man artwork. They posted the photo on Facebook as sympathetic messages came from all over the world.

The Jackson Family Winery, Robert Young Estate Winery and Vineyard, Garden Creek Vineyards, The Field Stone Winery and Moville Vineyards reportedly also suffered extensive damage. The Alexander Valley is home to about 5,000 acres of vineyards with 31 wineries and 82 growers. Most vintners completed their grape harvest just last week and were in the critical stages of crush. Wind gusts up to 100 mph were reported but have now calmed somewhat. Firefighters are struggling to contain the fires before strong winds are forecast to return.

A new blaze broke out yesterday near the Getty Centre on the west side of Los Angeles hundreds of kilometres from where crews were fighting the state’s biggest and most destructive fire, the Kincade, north of San Francisco. Nearly 200,000 were evacuated and power was cut to millions to avoid exacerbating the potential for new fires. Some argue the power cuts are making it more difficult to escape and to fight the fires. The power companies are saying they can't survive the liability. What a conundrum. At least no one has died.

PostScript 30-10-19: The National Weather Service issued a new warning today: the Extreme Red Flag Warning, for a high-wind event taking place in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Thursday evening.

This is unprecedented. A massive area has been evacuated and more is under advisory.

The NYT examines climate change’s impact on wine

In the last line of part one in the 4-part series on the effects of climate change on viticulture, New York Times columnist Eric Azimov concludes,

"Viticulture by its nature is complicated. As the world’s climates are transformed, it is only becoming more so."

Curiously, he recounts the thinking of wine grape growers around the world and it sounds eerily familiar. Everything I've been writing about for the past 5 years is in there. The vines I've chosen, the location, the experimentation with different varietals, the soil effects, the thinking behind the decisions, and so on are all in there. Reading it made me feel like a scientist again. Reading it also made me think that I'm a mad scientist: smart enough to know how to try and crazy enough to try when everything is getting increasingly unpredictable. What have we done?  Are we going to drive ourselves insane?

I can't wait to read the next instalment.

Here's what the promotional statement about the series said:

"Around the world, smart wine producers are working on ways to keep their vineyards flourishing despite hotter summers, warmer winters, droughts and the sometimes violent expressions of climate change, like freak hailstorms, spring frosts, flooding and wildfires.

In the first of a four-part series, The Times’s wine critic, Eric Asimov, teases out the major themes: new technologies, experiments with different grapes, a shifting map for viticulture, higher-altitude vineyards and planting to limit rather than maximize exposure to sunlight."

Visiting Vineyards in Galicia

Diego, Carolina, Maria, and Alex 

We had a fabulous day visiting vineyards that belong to the cooperative of Paco & Lola. Diego is the man in charge of Viticultura for the coop. He visits all the vineyards, manages the disease and pest control, decides when to harvest, and maintains relationships with all the growers. What a delightful and knowledgeable man. He loved that someone was interested in the vines and not just the wines.