Ballymaloe not to be

The panel at Ballymaloe

A week ago, on the 18th of May, we were to be guest speakers in a panel discussion of Irish Winemaking, Past, Present and Future at Ballymaloe House in Cork. Instead, on Friday the 17th, I had emergency dental surgery to quell infection in my gums and save my tooth from loss or extraction. I don't know which prospect was more terrifying: speaking about growing grapes and making wine or lying in a chair with my mouth open for more than an hour under surgical assault?

I got the word a week before when I visited O'Brien for evaluation. As we planned a strategy, a cancellation came in for Friday the 17th. The doc said take the appointment or you may not get another for months. So I made the appointment. I felt bad as it had taken Alex days to book all the events we wanted to attend and the hotel, which had a no-refund policy. We lost money on both ends, and the surgery cost €650 plus the €200 from the first exam. It was an expensive weekend. 

We checked into the Victoria Hotel and treated ourselves to a fabulous dinner at Michelin-recommended Éan in Galway the night before. Worth it! Although I was annoyed at the hotel for giving a rate that was without taxes that added about €100 to the bill. But it was good to be right in the centre of town and a black from the periodontists' office as the appointment was for 9 am. 

I spent Friday and Saturday recovering from the surgery. Had an infection in my gums that wasn't resolving with antibiotics and antiseptics causing the loosening of a tooth. My brilliant periodontist said there was good reason why we should try to save the tooth. So, I counted 11 injections of lidocaine, three incisions, lots of hoking, lots of rinsing, treatment with ultraviolet light, insertion of bone regrowth graft medium, glueing of several teeth together for stability, and finally three sutures in the back and 5 in the front. An hour and a half later, I was on my way home, thanks to Alex driving. Quite woozy afterwards. 

The pain is not too bad but a seal that feels like chewing gum stuck to my teeth is annoying. He said we'd done everything humanly possible. Now it was up to God to decide the rest. 

No solid food for 4-5 days. Stitches will dissolve on their own. Followup in three weeks will see if it worked. Back to Galway 7 June. 

More than a week later, I realised that the sutures were gone. I am healing. Ballymaloe another year. 

Ukrainian vintners in Napa

A group of Ukrainian winemakers is being taught regenerative viticulture through an initiative in Napa Valley. From June 3-9, 2024, six distinguished Ukrainian vintners will engage in comprehensive "hands-on" training focusing on regenerative viticulture and natural winemaking. This initiative aims to elevate the quality and sustainability of Ukrainian wines and demonstrate the powerful role of agriculture in peacebuilding.

Florets on some

 

It was a grey start to the day. I took a walk up into the vineyard to check on progress. We were supposed to be part of a panel discussion in Ballymaloe today, but I had oral surgery yesterday and we had to withdraw. It was not a pleasant ordeal, and I am very sorry we missed the event. 

The Rondo and Solaris are budding profusely, but there is no evidence of flower buds on any of the others. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir look healthy and vigorous. The Albarino look quite sickly. Oh well. 

Rondo buds

Solaris buds

Pinot Noir

Chardonnay

The healthiest Albarino

Pinot Noir row

Pears

Cherries

22C and Northern lights

10 May 2024 Aurora borealis view in Newport

At 3 pm, Furnace in Newport reported a temperature of 22C. I'd say we had the same. The skies were clear and there was a sun flare that hurtled to the earth creating a massive aurora borealis display over Ireland. Alex and I forgot to look. I am so dejected. Above is my friend's photo. 

The flare has been upgraded to 5 out of 5, so the strongest in a long time and could disrupt GPS and other electronic signals and devices over the weekend. Sadly, it's to be cloudy all weekend or we might be seeing more lights for days. 

Warmth encourages flowering

Rondo and Solaris buds are forming. Two days ago I didn't see any. The warmest April on record, which I didn't feel was particularly warm, must have encouraged them. 

And in the polytunnel, Vanessa has bunches of grapes already forming. And one fuzzy little peach on my peach tree. 

Breaking records

Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2023 is the hottest year on record, with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit. 2023 was 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level. A 12-month period ending in January or February 2024 will likely exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level. 2023 marks the first time on record that every day within a year has exceeded 1°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level.

In a related story, Copernicus announced that April was the hottest on record at 1.61C above pre-industrial levels. It is the 11th straight record-breaking month, and likely pushed us over the 1.5C limit. Looks like we are well and truly f%&£$d. 

Message in a bottle

Bottle on the right is the heavyweight

I bought a bottle of wine with a rating of 91 the other day. It was a very heavy bottle. I questioned whether winemakers use very heavy bottles to make it feel like premium wine. Alex chuckled at this notion but conceded that it could be the case. (It appears I hit the bottle on the nose with my thinking.) 

So Alex measured the weight of that bottle and compared it to an empty bottle from several days ago. The difference in weight was astonishing: 422gm vs 963gm. Really? More than twice the weight!

I've been reading about winemakers looking to reduce their carbon footprint in multiple ways, the primary one of interest is in reducing the packaging and making it more environmentally friendly. Some are choosing paper, others are going for lighter bottles. In either case, it reduces the impact of the manufacture of the bottle as well as the shipping impact. 

The Wine Society showed that glass bottles are the single biggest contributor to the wine industry's carbon footprint, accounting for 31% of total emissions. A further 21% of emissions result from shipping heavy bottles around the world to members’ doors. Plus, because glass can shatter, it requires extra packaging to protect it, which of course costs more to produce and ship. 

Glass is highly recyclable; however, only a small percentage of recycled glass becomes new bottles. Most of the glass is used in making composites so it's not as environmentally circular as one might think. 

The bag-in-box concept is actually quite a good one. It keeps the wine fresh and a study by Gaia Consulting in 2018 estimated the emissions of a 3L bag-in-box were nearly one-tenth that of a 0.75L glass bottle. 

Other alternatives being investigated are PET bottles which are much lighter than glass and can be made square so they fit together better. According to the Gaia study, a PET bottle has just under half of the CO2 emissions of a similarly sized one made from glass. But plastic is only recyclable a few times before it begins to break down and microplastics in the environment are a huge problem.

There are cans for bubbly and paper-like bottles, which have a unique presentation but what about their ability to withstand time. Not intuitive for me. 

If we keep our wine for our own consumption, we will certainly reuse the bottles multiple times. Perhaps that's the best solution. The message in the bottle is reduce, reuse, recycle. 

The Sustainable Wine Roundtable in 2023 produced a comprehensive report on the need to reduce the weight of bottles. 

For more information, check this out. 

Addendum 08-05-24

Verallia has introduced its lowest-weight glass bottle at 300g and it's made using an electric furnace powered exclusively by renewables. They will reduce their emissions by 60%. That's impressive. 

Addendum 17-05-24

And now there's a far more efficient hexagonal bottle design.