In late October, a conference called Tasting Climate Change was held in Canada. The subject was the impact of climate change on wine growing. An important question asked was: is it justifiable to plant vines where they have to be irrigated? Undoubtedly an interesting question.
We asked ourselves approximately the same question when we wrote the book about biodynamic and organic wines a few years ago: is it justifiable to plant vines where they must be sprayed with environmentally hazardous products?
As one of the speakers quite rightly points out, without irrigation, the vineyards in the New World would not exist. Bordeaux receives 45 to 55% of its annual rainfall during the growing season while the Napa Valley gets 5 to 10%.
However, Pedro Parra, a well-known Chilean terroir expert, said that irrigation in many places in the New World would not be needed if you used the right rootstock, worked properly in the vineyard and, above all, accepted a lower yield. But that would mean that the wines would be significantly more expensive. Which wine consumers would accept that?
Read more about the interesting climate conference here meininger.de
