14.7.16 Sherry Prepares for Climate Change

The Bodega san Ginés was the scene of a conference yesterday on what the Sherry trade must do to confront climate change. Pau Roca, president of the Federación Española del Vino (FEV) outlined the advantages of the “Wineries for Climate Protection” certification. This seal guarantees consumers that all stages in the production of a wine have fulfilled environmental standards.

Evaristo Babé, president of the Brandy Consejo and Fedejerez, and Beltrán Domecq, president of the Sherry Consejo, both sent a clear message to the trade. Babé said that “climate change is a reality and we, both as people and as companies, must take decisions conscientiously. It is a fact that the cultivation of the vine is going to change in function with changes in the environment.” But he didn’t wish to predict catastrophe as there are many possibilities for change in the face of unforeseeable consequences.

Beltrán Domecq didn’t mince his words saying “temperatures of only two degrees more would change everything and present real problems. The ripening period would be shortened and quality would without doubt be affected. We must observe what happens.” Referring to the EU targets for emissions reduction and energy efficiency for 2020, he underlined that “due to the importance of the climate change problem, measures need to be taken right now, and so we are already thinking about what needs to be done.”

The notion of sustainability certification arose back in 2011 as a result of the “Declaration of Barcelona” where Consejos Reguladores from all over Spain launched a “green plan” to bring about more sustainable production and making the seal a guarantee for consumers. “In the last five years we have experienced a cultural change, and we are much more aware of the situation but back then we really had no idea where climate change would lead us,” said Babé. In fact the sustainability of the bodegas could be achieved by action on four fundamental fronts: reduction of CO2 emissions, the use of renewable and more efficient energy, reduction of residues and more efficient use of water.

One of the experts present yesterday to outline the risks of climate change was José Ramón Lissarrague, an agricultural engineer and researcher at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He explained that temperature is the biggest controller of plant behaviour, “the vine plant and its grapes are highly sensitive to temperature which acts as a biological regulator. The warming climate goes beyond the vine’s requirements and the process starts to go backwards giving various negative results such as poor use of water and poor growth. This unbalances the composition of the grape and causes losses in production efficiency.”

He went on to say that “we can try to stem the problem and maintain our traditions and values at the same time since we have a large range of tools at our disposal. We can study the best places for cultivation, we can ensure good root growth and we can work to improve pruning and fertilisation. We must move to precision agriculture which does not waste resources and we must change the management of the productive cycle of the vine.

At the closure of the conference, the director general of the Junta’s agricultural department, Rosa Isabel Ríos asked for collaboration in this difficult task saying that “she hoped the 1.8 billion euros granted to Spanish viticulture by the EU would be wisely used”. The money is conditional on the use of the most sustainable methods and tools. “In Andalucía we are on the way” she said while also praising the initiative of the conference to apply the brakes to climate change.

Climate Change is Affecting Sherry

This is a worrying article by JA Cañas published in today's La Voz Digital Cádiz:

It is not just another heatwave, it is the confirmation of a trend. It is not just an alarmist assertion, it is a reality proved by various indicators. One of them is also one of the province’s greatest sources of wealth: wine. The bodegas are worried that climate change is causing important changes in the wine which can only be combated with research and the application of new technology.

Carmelo García knows all about it. He is a professor at the University of Cádiz (UCA) and in charge of the Centro Andaluz de Investigaciones Vitivinícolas (CAIV)run by the university in conjunction with the Junta. He has spent many years researching how to save the grapes from the grave problem of rising temperatures. The key is in the vegetative cycle of the grape and its ripening during the summer. High temperatures make the grape ripen more quickly and with a higher sugar content which will ferment out to a higher level of alcohol. This happens with all grape varieties and is forcing bodegas to pick the grapes sooner, like in mid-August.

Harvesting ever earlier (foto:lavozdigital)

You might think that would solve the problem – but for one other factor. As it ripens, the grape converts its acids into sugar, but the aromas also appear. The high temperatures are knocking off balance the development of sugars and aromas. While the sugar content rises rapidly it is not so with the aromas, so earlier picking brings in grapes with less aroma. At least it could be worse for the Sherry trade as they use mainly Palomino which is not the most aromatic of grapes, its aromas develop during ageing.

Sherry is, of course, not the only wine produced in the province. Many table wines are produced from other grape varieties and here aroma is more important. Red grapes present a particular problem as the heat causes the sugars to rise quickly but not the aromas or the colour. Once grapes were picked when they had enough sugar to achieve the intended alcohol level, but now they are picked according to phenolic ripeness as well, that is properly ripe, not just plenty of sugar. If you pick the red grape on say the 20^th August it will already have enough sugar, but very little colour. If you wait longer you will get the colour but the wine will be far too strong. Worse still, the market currently prefers wines with less alcohol.

After years of research, the CAIV knows the climate is against us. Climate change is already obvious and harvests are regularly much earlier than say 30-40 years ago. Furthermore, the CAIV works with predictive models which show that some regions will have serious problems making wine at all in the future, and that the whole of Spain will be affected.

Research is therefore focusing on the grape, its vinification and the wine. They are studying irrigation and the possibility of nutrient supply to compensate for the fast ripening. They are also looking into old grape varieties which are perfectly adapted to vineyards in the province with higher temperatures with the idea of cloning them and planting them more widely. As to winemaking, they are looking into the maceration of the grape skins to extract more colour and aroma. The last option is to reduce the alcohol level of the wine without the loss of aroma; the centre already has a machine which removes alcohol. It is hoped to have all the necessary results in the next three years as they are well aware that this is neither trivial nor an exaggeration, it is a serious and worrying reality and clear results are needed to deal with it.