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Miguel Torres can taste the difference

Miguel Torres can taste the difference

Miguel Torres can taste the difference in his wine caused by warming temperatures and drying soil. Miguel is the president of the renowned Torres wine label based in Spain. Since the 1800s, the Torres family has cultivated their grapes just outside Barcelona. The impact of global warming on Spain’s ecosystem has forced Miguel to use other ways to grow vines by moving them to cooler places. “The immediate change in our company regarding climate change is the move towards the north, closer to the Pyrenees, to acquire new land,” Miguel explains.

With the largest vineyards in the world, Spain’s wine business is a $2.4 billion industry. But Spain is the closest wine producing country to the equator. The impact of warming temperature on the country’s grapevines points the future of Europe’s wine industry.

European vineyards, like the Torres’s estate, have thrived between latitudes 35° and 50°, where temperatures formerly averaged between 10°C (50°F) and 20°C (68°F). But the temperatures in Europe seem will increase at a faster rate than the rest of the world. In the past century, the worldwide temperature rose 0.7°C; however, Europe experienced a 0.95°C average increase. Escalating temperatures and unpredictable weather conditions are causing concern about the future in Europe’s most popular wine regions.

The impact of warmer temperatures on grapes include over-ripening, drying out, rising acidity levels, and vulnerability to pest and disease. High levels of carbon dioxide accelerate the rate of photosynthesis and alter the way vines produce and ripen grapes. Warmer temperatures may also change the harvest season from the beginning of October to September. The dormancy of the grapes is expected to begin earlier due to milder winters. These changes may affect the taste and sustainability of the grapes.

Increase in light and warmer temperatures will boost the sugar levels, which can enhance the alcohol content. Hotter weather will also curb grape acidity levels, dramatically changing the taste.

Beyond warmer temperatures, water is a major concern. A lack of water will create dehydrated grapes and infertile soil. “In 2005, we got a very severe drought throughout Spain and virtually no rains during the spring and the summer. As a result the harvest was very reduced,” says Torres.

Historically, Spanish vineyards have not required alternative water sources. Watering grapes has only been legal as of 1996. The reoccurring drought and rising temperatures have forced wine farmers to spend a great deal of money to water their vines. “Of course we are trying to irrigate the vineyards by drip irrigation whenever water is available. This is a change, since in Spain traditionally the vineyards were never irrigated,” says Torres.

Wine producers are trying to decrease the impact of climate change by creating shaded vineyards, developing heat resistant crops and moving their estates to mountainous regions. The added cost combined with lower quality of grapes is damaging both the profits of local wine companies and the potential growth of the Spanish wine industry.

To address the problems caused by climate change, the First World Meeting on Global Warming and Wine was organized in Barcelona in 2006. Nearly 150 winemakers, oenologists and sommeliers from around the world took part in seminars and debates analyzing problems that the wine industry has not faced until now. Miguel Torres created The Torres Foundation in 1986 to produce wine while conserving and protecting the environment.

Spain has signed the Kyoto Protocol and is actively controlling its carbon output. Without change, the future of Spain’s wine production appears grim. The National Academy of Sciences claims that if climate change continues by 2100 the viable grape-growing regions in the world will be reduced by nearly 80 per cent.

By Piper Crowell


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