Climate and sustainble winegrowing

Last March 28, in Rome, a conference was held at the headquarters of the national cooperatives’ association Confcooperative that was very important to say the least. Oddly enough, only the general-interest press was present and no one who was specialized in wine.

The conference saw the presidents of the winemaking cooperative associations in Italy, Spain and France – Ruenza Santandrea, Angel Villafrance and Boris Calmette – who represent 320,000 winegrowers who produce 25% of the world’s wine, report on the state of the vineyards of their members in regard to evident signs of climate change and what probable scenarios their members will face in the coming years.

The conference was introduced by Luca Mercalli, an internationally renowned meteorologist, who explained how the Paris Climate Accords will probably not be fully implemented and we must expect extreme weather events to take place already over the next ten years and not in the distant future. The examples cited were shocking and included vast desertification, above all in Spain, Greece and then Italy. All of Sicily and much of Puglia could become a desert in just a few decades and the cities of Milan and Turin could have, in a half century’s time, the same climate as Karachi today, with summer temperatures surpassing 50°C and a drastic decline in rainfall.

In regard to winegrowing, it has been forecast that vineyards will have to increase in altitude by an average of 250m above sea level and move north by at least 200km. It will be a disaster that is all too foreseeable over the next 20 years and will be unavoidable given the current state of international cooperation.

The question thus arose of what can be done for agriculture and winegrowing, in particular. Answers were provided by Professors Attilio Scienza and Michele Morgante, of the Universities of Milan and Udine respectably, who focused on the genetic editing of vines as a way to allow varietals to adapt to the new climate reality and thus survive. The vineyards of the future will need to use less water, something possible by using genetic editing and other technologies to improve the genetic makeup of the plant. This can also be used to make plants more resistant to conditions like botrytis and downy and powdery mildew and thus reduce by some 80% the use of chemical treatments in the field.

This all represents a revolution but one full of obstacles, above all in the wine sector where genetic modification is seen by some as attacks on tradition, which has a symbolic value in the collective imagination.

A comparison that comes to mind is that between an electric Tesla automobile and the legendary Isotta Fraschini of half a century ago. The latter is splendid and has its own market among rich and passionate car lovers. However, it pollutes more, is slow and less safe for passengers. The Tesla, on the other hand, is not beautiful but infinitely more practical, efficient, safe and suitable for modern life. However, it could not have become a reality without the Isotta Fraschini existing first and it is, in a certain way, its modern evolution. Automobiles, and much of agriculture, do not have that symbolic value of tradition that wine and some other agricultural products have and that are provoke strong resistance to innovation.

The reality we must face now is whether it is worth continuing to fight a battle that is already lost, to go down with the ship as something honorable, or whether the time has come to open our eyes and tackle with resolve that challenges posed by climate change, which are inevitable and well-advanced and are visible for all to see.