This is for the board’s wine geeks. No link because it was a conversation I had with a winemaker who was an early Microsoft employee (that’s how he got the money to quit MS and make wine).
We were talking about climate change, how it affects his vineyard, and how he goes about combatting its effects on his wine.
First, a bit of geeky background: The problem with warm temps is that it makes the grapes convert acid to sugar too fast and too much. Means the final wine doesn’t have enough acidity, is kind of flabby, has no structure and has too much alcohol. The acceleration of the ripening process also shortens the time the grapes spend on the vine. That in turn prevents some of the late-developing flavor compounds and tannins from maturing sufficiently. Which can make a bland wine with green flavors — not what you want.
So how do you slow the ripening process to a rate that would take place at cooler temps? You manipulate the leaves on the vine — also called “canopy management.”
For centuries, winemakers have used canopy management for a lot of other purposes. Just a couple are: Let the leaves grow to provide shade for the grapes and prevent them from getting sunburned — heavily used in sunny areas like Mendoza in Argentina. Or thin out the leaves to allow greater airflow to prevent fungal diseases in humid climates — heavily used in Bordeaux, especially on the left bank. That’s just two applications; there are lots of others.
This particular vineyard is in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. That’s important because, being in the rain shadow of the Coastal Mountain Range, is a lot sunnier than you might picture for Oregon.
Think of leaves as solar panels for the grapes. They take in solar radiation and heat, and put out energy for the grapes to ripen. So how do you slow the acceleration of the ripening process caused by a warmer climate? You reduce the number of solar panels / leaves — you cut back the canopy.
Now, in the Willamette Valley, you’re dealing with a lot of sunshine, and you need shade to keep the grapes from getting sunburned. So how do you cut back on the leaves, but keep the grapes shaded?
You let the lower leaves (the ones nearest the grapes) grow and provide shade, but cut back the higher ones that don’t provide much shade anyway.
Problem solved. Or, at least mitigated for a while.
I thought this was a fascinating solution combining some pretty scientific knowledge of how plants work with a low-tech method of making the plant do what you want it to do.
We were talking about climate change, how it affects his vineyard, and how he goes about combatting its effects on his wine.
First, a bit of geeky background: The problem with warm temps is that it makes the grapes convert acid to sugar too fast and too much. Means the final wine doesn’t have enough acidity, is kind of flabby, has no structure and has too much alcohol. The acceleration of the ripening process also shortens the time the grapes spend on the vine. That in turn prevents some of the late-developing flavor compounds and tannins from maturing sufficiently. Which can make a bland wine with green flavors — not what you want.
So how do you slow the ripening process to a rate that would take place at cooler temps? You manipulate the leaves on the vine — also called “canopy management.”
For centuries, winemakers have used canopy management for a lot of other purposes. Just a couple are: Let the leaves grow to provide shade for the grapes and prevent them from getting sunburned — heavily used in sunny areas like Mendoza in Argentina. Or thin out the leaves to allow greater airflow to prevent fungal diseases in humid climates — heavily used in Bordeaux, especially on the left bank. That’s just two applications; there are lots of others.
This particular vineyard is in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. That’s important because, being in the rain shadow of the Coastal Mountain Range, is a lot sunnier than you might picture for Oregon.
Think of leaves as solar panels for the grapes. They take in solar radiation and heat, and put out energy for the grapes to ripen. So how do you slow the acceleration of the ripening process caused by a warmer climate? You reduce the number of solar panels / leaves — you cut back the canopy.
Now, in the Willamette Valley, you’re dealing with a lot of sunshine, and you need shade to keep the grapes from getting sunburned. So how do you cut back on the leaves, but keep the grapes shaded?
You let the lower leaves (the ones nearest the grapes) grow and provide shade, but cut back the higher ones that don’t provide much shade anyway.
Problem solved. Or, at least mitigated for a while.
I thought this was a fascinating solution combining some pretty scientific knowledge of how plants work with a low-tech method of making the plant do what you want it to do.
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