Episode 5: Climate Canary
In this week’s podcast episode we blend the fun and the serious - wine! The viticulture industry is a significant component of Australia’s agriculture industry, and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate due to the sensitivity of wine grapes to environmental conditions. The wines and regions we love will inevitably change, if not changing already. In this episode we speak to Dr Mardi Longbottom to learn just how and why she calls viticulture the climate canary for agriculture, and what the industry is doing in response.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia
Economic contribution of the Australian Wine Sector 2019
Geisenheim University's 2019 survey of wine growers and climate change
KEY QUOTES
”Growing wine grapes is a bit different to many other agricultural crops because the composition of grapes has such an influence on the style of wine that can be made. What I mean by that is that the grapes need to have a particular composition of sugar, acid, colour and texture characteristics to make a particular style. And grape composition is primarily influenced by the environment the grapes and the vines are grown in.”
“Small changes in temperature or water availability or sun exposure can have measurable impacts on grape composition and ultimately the potential style of wine we can make from those grapes.”
“The good thing is that we’ve been adapting to a changing climate for a long time and we have lots of tools in the shed to help us both in the vineyard and in the winery to adapt.”
“As an industry, we accept the realities of climate change because we are experiencing it.”
“We have everything to gain by taking steps towards mitigating climate change every time we change, no matter how small we also have a positive impact on our bottom line, and this is good for everyone.”
“Wine grape growers are especially efficient at their use of water… almost 100% of Australian grape growers are using drip irrigation which is incredibly efficient.”
“With increasing temperature we’re getting earlier bud burst... and we’ve also got a shortening of the actual season itself, so harvest is happening earlier, which means that we have a compression of the season.”