Wines and Global Warming
In a recent Decanter blog post, Oliver Styles asked whether the wine industry should be thinking more about global warming or was it doing enough? And, should we as consumers be more aware of the impact we have? Silly questions for such a serious publication. Because of travel, waste, and agricultural byproducts, wine is a product that can have serious effects on the environment and leave a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint. It can contribute to global warming and be affected by it.
If you're a wine lover, all of these issues should be on your mind, at least because, as weather changes—and wine is directly affected by weather—the wines we know and love may no longer exist. (That and the whole save-the-planet thing.) But what can we as wine drinkers do about it?
We can drink organic wines, drink local wines, and recycle the bottles. Every state in the union makes some wine (even Texas!), so what are some of your favorite local wines? Do you actively search out organic wines? And does anyone have a creative way to recycle bottles?
Two of my favorite organic wines are Movia Ribolla Gialla 2005 (about $25; Slovenia) and Nicolas Joly Les Clos Sacres 2004 (about $40; Savennieres, France).
Two of my favorite local wines are Ravines Dry Riesling 2006 ($18; Finger Lakes, New York) and Wolffer Late Harvest Chardonnay 2005 ($40; Long Island, New York).
My favorite way to recycle wine bottles: Flower vase ($0; kitchen counter).
About the author: Joe Campanale is a sommelier at New York City's Babbo and is the food and wine editor at Debonair Magazine. Joe is a Certified Wine Educator, Certified Sommelier, and is pursuing his master's degree in Food Studies at New York University.
Photograph from iStockPhoto.com
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6 Comments:
Hey Joe,
You say "Because of travel, waste, and agricultural byproducts, wine is a product that can have serious effects on the environment and leave a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint. It can contribute to global warming.."
I really don't understand what you're getting at here. Travel? If you mean flying to visit a winery, yes that's carbon intensive. But it's by no means factored into the making of wine.
As to waste and contributing to global warming, I would submit that you check out the "lagoons" associated with cattle farms--not to mention their methane. Indeed, eating a burger has a much larger ("sasquatch sized"?) carbon footprint than enjoying a bottle of wine.
I've posted a few posts around this complex theme if it's something you're interested in:
http://drvino.com/category/green-wine/
Cheers,
Tyler
Dr. Vino at 10:12AM on 07/28/07
Hey Tyler,
Thanks for responding. By "travel" I mean that many of our favorite wines must travel great distances from the winery to our table. This wine "travel" has an environmental cost due to fuel use during transportation. If we purchase local or organic wines and recycle the bottles, we can try to offset some of this impact.
Although I don't doubt that bovine waste has a greater contribution to global warming - and I wouldn't get between anyone and the juicy bovine goodness that is a perfectly grilled hamburger - if we make informed purchasing decisions, whether it be wine or meat, we can ensure that bigfoot treads lightly and leaves shallow footprints.
You're right, this is a very complex topic and until New York starts making wine as good as the best of Europe I won't switch over to all local wine. I just hope to preserve some of my favorite wines by doing my part to slow global warming so that Champagne, France never becomes a red wine region.
Drink well,
Joe
joecampanale at 3:31PM on 07/28/07
It's hard to make excuses for this, mostly because I'm not sure I can bring myself to imbibe Texan "wine".
I'd like to think of buying wine as supporting a different kind of agriculture but it's hard to look past the vast irrigated fields of Australia or the massive doses of pesticide required to keep all the birds, insects, rots, and other diseases away from vines. Still, the recent spread on "Green Wine" in Wine Spectator from June 30th of this year shows that many winemakers are aware of their affect on the environment and working to neutralize it as best they can by powering vehicles with bio-diesel, reclaiming lost marshlands, and practicing the organic and biodynamic practices you mentioned in your post. Nicolas Joly is a legend in Savenierres and was immensely influential in getting other vineyards to change their ways.
I'm optimistic that winemakers want to be stewards of the land and are moving in a responsible direction - just stay away from Yellow Tail (as if we needed another reason)! You might say that winemakers are just about the only farmers that have a hope of being fairly compensated which gives them the reasources to change thier ways. If only we'd pay as much for a perfect and concentrated peach or tomato.
- Ben
brk212 at 11:28PM on 07/29/07
That's a great point Ben. Something I always found to be peculiar is that when a peach is grown organically (in the U.S.) it is advertised as such but most organic wine makes no note anywhere on the bottle. Why do you think this is?
joecampanale at 12:00PM on 07/30/07
I think it probably comes down to marketing techniques - adding the organic label to a peach is about the only way to add a story to a piece of fruit while a fancy label, heavy bottle and lots of classifications and ratings help make wine sexy. So, you might say that if a wine has to advertise itself as organic it's probably not that good in the first place. Obviously that's on par with thinking, well Parker only gave this 83 points, it's not worth buying. Somehow I can't picture a USDA seal looking like it belongs on a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir. The Wine Spectator article I mentioned explained some of the markings winemakers DO use though - which seems like it's mostly a logo-fied world. Think the black roosters of Chianti but for Salmon Safe wine.
If you were making organic wine would you feature the USDA seal on it and if not, how do people know it's not just some fake claim? Especially if you made the wine in Australia or something? I think what we're talking about here is also not so much organic but sustainable. If you pipe in gallons of water to grow vines on a desert, does it matter much if it's organic?
You might check into the Demeter Association, they seem to have some of the toughest certification requirements and I think they take those things into account.
brk212 at 4:14PM on 07/30/07
Added sulfites is the legal reason. But philosophy also plays a part
http://drvino.com/2007/04/26/seeing-green-and-being-green/
Dr. Vino at 2:37PM on 08/01/07