Innovative strategies the wine industry is using to adjust to climate change
Warming global temperatures are impacting wine production.
Facing summer heat and recurring drought conditions, winemakers across the country are grappling with the inevitable: climate change impacts that could alter the quality of their grapes and the signature flavors of their wines.
In response to an increase in global temperatures, some vintners in the wine industry are changing the way they cultivate their crops to mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce their own carbon footprint.
The increase in heat has been found to alter the chemistry of the grapes -- and therefore the taste of the wine -- as warmer growing seasons ripen them faster.
Warming temperatures could make 70% of the world's wine-growing regions unsuitable to produce grapes if global temperatures exceed a certain threshold, a study found in 2024.
Experts say climate change could potentially decrease grape yields in some regions by altering temperatures and water availability, causing an increase in extreme weather events.
Growers who have cultivated the same land for decades or even generations can be reluctant to move their vineyards to more suitable climates -- a solution proposed by viticulture researchers, Greg Gambetta, professor of viticulture at Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the Institute for the Science of the Vine and Wine in France, told ABC News.
Some are trying other strategies to attempt to protect the integrity of their grapes in the face of climate change as well as make their operations more sustainable in an effort to prevent further warming.
One winemaker's quest to conserve trees to create better wine
In the Pacific Northwest, a region that has been subject to historic extreme heatwaves in recent years, one winemaker is using the natural landscape to make the vineyard more resilient to climate change.
The winemakers at Abbott Claim, an acclaimed estate in the Willamette Valley of Oregon known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, believe the preservation of the Oregon white oak trees that surround the vineyard is helping to fortify the vines, Alban Debeaulieu, general manager at Abbott Claim, told ABC News.
Having the white oaks next to the vineyards is conducive to the creation of mycelium -- an underground mushroom network that interacts with the root system and improves the uptake of nutrition into the root system of the oak, Debeaulieu said. The grapevines also thrive from having a rich underground web of mycelium.
There is evidence that increasing the diversity of plants at the margins or even hedgerows of vineyards can increase biodiversity, Gambetta said.
"It's been top of mind for us to preserve the natural ecosystem around us," Debeaulieu said.
When they realized certain parcels of land would be unlikely to produce the world-class wine again, they began reforestation efforts, planting seedlings for white oak over the past two years.
Sustainability is also embedded into every facet of their operations. Since the facility is 16 feet underground, the natural temperatures allow for minimal use of air conditioning. Their rooflines are covered in solar panels, which offset 100% of their energy use and often produce a surplus that is sent back to the grid.
A vineyard in California's wine country is fortifying its soil to withstand rising temperatures
Northern California's wine country was subject to a decades-long megadrought impacting the region. But the most notable impacts of climate change have been the wildfires over the last decade, James Cerda, a sommelier and head of marketing for Elusa Winery in Calistoga, California, part of the Napa Valley, told ABC News.
The fires in 2020 were so destructive that Elusa, along with many others, scrapped its entire vintage.
"We didn't produce a single bottle of red wine that year, due to smoke taint," Cerda said.
The Donum Estate, a 200-acre farm in Sonoma, California, that produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, was impacted by major wildfires in 2017 and 2020, in which it lost half of its harvest, Angelica de Vere Mabray, CEO of The Donum Estate, told ABC News.
Afterwards, the team began implementing strategies to protect the vines, said Tony Chapman, head of winegrowing at The Donum Estate.
Donum now keeps the soil in the middle rows of the vineyard covered with cover crops and native plants, which has reduced the soil temperature and made the vines more resilient. The cooler soil temperatures have also brought down the overall canopy temperature, Chapman said.
Cover crops -- crops grown to enhance soil health and water quality between cash-crop plantings -- have the potential to mitigate some of the impacts of climate change in agricultural systems, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Other sustainability methods are also contributing to the durability of the vineyard.
The Donum winemakers are practicing regenerative farming by maintaining living roots year-round and utilizing no-till farming, an agricultural technique where crops are grown without disturbing the soil through plowing or tilling.
How other winemakers are practicing sustainability
Sustainability has become commonplace in viticulture, as growers recognize the toll repetitive agriculture can have on a landscape and the large carbon footprint left by the farming industry's current practices. The global agriculture sector and food systems were responsible for roughly 30% of total human-made greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Lina Goujjane, sommelier at Kiko, an Asian-influenced restaurant in downtown New York City, focuses on sustainable wines for her wine list, she told ABC News.
The "bare minimum" sustainable practices Goujjane looks out for are native yeast fermentation that is indigenous to the grapes and whether winemakers are acidifying their wine -- a necessary step to restore the wine's balance when heat causes the grapes to ripen too quickly.
La Garagista, a farm and winery in Bethel, Vermont, grows hybrid, cold-climate grapes with organic and biodynamic practices, Deirdre Heekin, founder and primary winemaker of La Garagista, told ABC News.
Hybrids are an under-explored aspect of viticulture and winemaking and have a lot of potential to increase sustainability, Gambetta said.
Across the pond, sustainability is the very fabric of operations at Souleil Vin de Bont, an organic winemaker in the South of France, founder Marianne Fabre-Lanvin told ABC News.
Souleil only uses eco-certified grapes, meaning that the vineyard avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilizer. The vines are also vegan. Instead of using egg whites to filter the wine, they use pea protein, Fabre-Lanvin said.
Observation and adaptation are "especially relevant" in a time of climate instability, Heekin said.
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