Wine country on the move
Last year, I was talking to a friend of mine and he said that he and his wife were going to “wine country” for the weekend.
I said, “Oh, you are going to Napa?”.
He said, “No, we’re going to the vineyards near Santa Barbara.”
I know that Sideways was a popular movie, but, come on, everybody who lives in America knows that “wine country” means Napa Valley. (The French would probably disagree that Napa has sole claim to this title.)
Napa has practically become synonymous with wine in the way that Maine is associated with lobsters, Idaho with potatoes, Vermont with maple syrup, and Wisconsin with cheese.
So, try for a moment to imagine for a moment Napa without wine.
Crazy?
Not according to an article in last week’s Contra Costa Times.
The article suggests that the climate changes over the next 50 years could have a devastating impact on California wines:
A small bump up in the average growing season temperature, even just 1 degree, could push Napa into questionable territory for chardonnay.
Of course, this same small bump in temperature would nudge the valley closer to the ideal climate for zinfandel grapes. But a few more degrees could be a disaster for Napa. And some of the state’s warmer wine-growing regions, such as Santa Barbara and Paso Robles, might be lost altogether.
…
Most of the remaining top-quality acreage will shift northward to the Pacific Northwest. California will retain and possibly gain a little bit of territory along the coast, but the inland vineyards, including those in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, will be lost.
In fact, the article says that the possible damage wouldn’t be limited to just wine:
Many of the state’s signature crops — avocados, oranges, almonds — will face serious declines in yield by midcentury, according to computer models that project climate changes.
So, when you think about the long term impacts of climate change, you might think about the prospect of sipping a great Oregon wine.
on January 25th, 2007 at 8:05 am
I am sure that the Oregon Wine Advisory Board thanks you for your support.
on January 25th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Dude, no. Just no. Glibertarianism is a fatal disease. It’s also a choice. Don’t let yourself become infected.
on January 25th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
More seriously, I’m not sure that I buy this article. I think it overstates the fruits of natural advantage.
1) As I understand wine growing, the real importance is micro-climates, and I’m wondering how good an index average temperature is for that.
2) As Vicki points out above, Oregon is already producing wine. And Ernest & Gallo are based in Modesto, which is much warmer than either Napa or Santa Barbara. I remember when I lived in Philly, the farmer’s market always had locally grown wine. Which indicates that wine grapes have a wide tolerance for growing conditions — and may be (I’m ignorant on the matter ) related to micro-climates: sure, the average temperature in one area is no god, but the field on the other side of this hill is perfect.
3) You’ll actually find a lot of wine snobs who prefer European wines not because French wines or Italian wines are somehow better than Napa wines, but because they’re as good but significantly cheaper than those from Napa.
4) That’s because a lot of what makes Napa the wine country is marketing. You can actually also get excellent — and cheap — wines from Australia and Chile and Argentina also, but these are often considered lesser because they don’t have the Napa brand.
5) Another Napa advantage — and this one doe support the CCT article, is that the weather there is relatively constant. For European wines, its much more important to pay attention to the vintage, because they vary so much from year to year. One reason that people like Napa wines is the quality is generally the same and generally high.
6) But to those natural advantages you have to add institutional ones. San Francisco is gateway to Napa, assuring a steady stream of tourists and flow of money. That is less true on Oregon, SB, or even Philly. Napa also abuts a world-class university that has saved the grape crop before. These institutional advantages are not insumrmountable, but are great.
All of this indicates to me that even if average temperatures rose substantially, say a couple of degrees, then Napa would still be fine. Wine grapes can obviously grow at such temperatures, given their wide dispersal around the globe. Napa has a brand and support.
I could be wrong, but on first blush this sounds like alarmism.