Maria Jose Riquelme

Wine industry getting ready to challenge the impacts of climate change

Packed… absolutely packed. In October, the event “Sustainability, Climate Change and Energy Efficiency in the Chilean Wine Industry” brought together around 300 people at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

At this event, the British Ambassador to Chile, Mr Howard Drake, introduced the UK-funded study the Economic Impacts of Climate Change on the Wine Industry in Chile and Argentina.  On the occasion, he stressed that this study should serve as a tool for Chilean growers to be better prepared to face the changes and challenges imposed by a changing weather… and to ensure the planet will continue to enjoy the wine from this part of the world!

Some winemakers, such as Jose Guilisasti, said we could already feel climate change. He said that in the 9th region, for example, 25 years ago there was no way they could grow vines, whereas now they’ve found quite good conditions.

PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the implementers, presented the preliminary findings. Some of the expected changes include:

- Winemaking conditions will actually move south
- Possible new plagues
- Strong droughts and higher temperatures may bring the harvest forward and the ripening season might be more difficult to foresee
- A rise in sugar content, hence a rise in the alcohol content
- 20% less water in the rivers of the Central Valley, where most of the vine valleys are located

This didn’t seem new to another winemaker, Mr Pablo Morandé, who explained that Morande Winery had had to take out vines that they’d planted 25 years ago in Casablanca.

Other reactions were not as positive. One person said that he didn’t believe climate change was here or that it could lead to a crisis.

It is sad to see that still irrefutable evidence is put into question. I sensed that there is still a lot of scepticism in terms of the magnitude of the effects and that many see it as an exaggeration or as a conspiracy from the developed world.

In a country that prides itself for its natural assets and a booming wine industry, it may very well be that ignorance is bliss.

Posted at 11:20 05 November 2009 by Maria Jose Riquelme  |  Comments[0]