Dull Palates: WUWT deniers are not connoisseurs of wine

While flailing about for some science to deny, Anthony Watts has put up another article by Eric Worrall (archived here). Eric copied and pasted an excerpt from an article about wine. If Eric thinks that climate change isn't affecting wine production, he's wrong. Just as science deniers don't have a clue about science, neither do they have a clue about wine.

The article was from Reuters, and it was about winemakers and wine grape growers adapting to climate change. Although it had a positive slant, everyone who knows anything about wine knows that climate change is going to change the type and taste of wine.

The article did put a positive spin on the situation, saying that grapes are adaptable. That may be so, but if a winemaker wants a particular wine, they'll be getting the grapes from different places in the future, if they can. Here's the bit that Eric Worrall copied:

Australia's wine industry is moving south to escape the heat

Update - I've added a footnote showing how much hotter it's been getting over summer in south eastern Australia.

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Climate change is already happening as you know. So do wine growers in Australia. Tasmania produces some rather nice boutique wines. It's going to produce a lot more.

Some of the big wine growers are setting up more vineyards in Tasmania, replacing the ones on the mainland where it's getting a tad too hot for wine grapes. From the ABC yesterday:

Climate change is helping to drive a boom in Tasmania's wine industry with interstate investors seeking cooler growing conditions, the state's peak body has said.

The industry is expected to benefit from the long-term effects of climate change, attracting interstate investors and boosting production.

Warmer weather conditions are already causing major mainland wine producers to invest in the state after seeing potential in Tasmania's cooler climate.

Wine Tasmania, the state's peak wine body, said there had been growing interest from major winemakers who were finding mainland conditions challenging.

The trend looks set to continue with figures from the Tasmanian Climate Change Office showing wine production in the state was growing by about 10 per cent a year.

I ventured a bit further and found some other articles on the subject. This one is from three years ago at news.com.au, quoting Ross Brown of Brown Bros, one of Australia's more noted wineries from my region:

Brown Brothers Wineries CEO Ross Brown said he was sufficiently alarmed by climate change to have started relocating production of cooler varieties to Tasmania’s Tamar Ridge winery.

"Basically we are in the coolest part of Victoria (for wine) and that won't be cool enough to produce some of our main wines - for sparkling and pinot noir," Mr Brown said. 

"As the vineyards warm up a few degrees some of the varieties we are currently growing won't be viable in those vineyards in 10 to 15 years time."

Mr Brown said warming also presented a major challenge for wines that are suited to warm climates - like shiraz and cabernet - which would lose quality.

"In a warmer climate that heat and earlier ripening period creates richer and fuller bodied wines," he said. "But we are seeing a consumer demand for finer wines, more elegant wines and that does not augur well for people who are already making those rich fuller bodied wines." 

Other parts of the grape-growing world are also feeling the heat. In a few years, regions now covered in grape vines will look quite different and new regions will emerge. Think what that will do to the character of places like Tuscany and Bordeaux. From ScienceNews.com in February this year:

According to these projections, by midcentury Bordeaux could reach the upper temperature limits for growing red varieties, and will fall outside the ideal climate for its white grapes. Other areas are threatened too. Last year an international team of scientists showed that by 2050, some of the world’s most famous wine-making regions, including Tuscany in Italy, will shrink by nearly 70 percent.

That doesn’t mean the end of sauvignon blanc or merlot. But in the not-so-distant future, these well-recognized French wines may not come from France. Some wine producers in Champagne or Bordeaux already are moving north and setting up vineyards in southern England. There the soil is similar to the chalky substrate of Champagne, offering a hospitable environment for growing quality grapes. In other parts of the world, growers are expanding into areas previously not known for wine, setting up vineyards in India, Brazil and China.

Enjoy your favourite wine while you still can. The next bottle will be different.

Footnote

A visitor here is in denial, so I've added a chart showing the temperature increase in south eastern Australia over the past few decades. The previous decade was around 0.9°C hotter than it was in the 1960s. These past three summers have been much hotter still, around 1.3°C hotter. This is the average summer temperature over the whole region.  I leave it to you to imagine how hot some days and week have been and how that can affect the grape harvest.

Data Source: BoM

It's not just summer, other seasons are changing too.

Anthony Watts doesn't have reds under his bed (or in his cellar)

There's another "claim" article at WUWT (archived here). This time Anthony Watts is mocking a study of the impact of a changing climate on Spain's coveted red wine grape variety, the Tempranillo.  Tempranillo is described here as:

Red. Superb quality and very aromatic, the star of Spanish grapes. It is called Ull de Llebre in Catalonia, Cencibel in Castile-La Mancha and Madrid, and Tinto Fino and Tinto del Pais in Castile and Leon. It flourishes in Burgos, La Rioja, Alava, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. It is considered a main variety in the following DOs: Calatayud, Cigales, Conca de Barbera, Costers del Segre, La Mancha, Penedes, Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Somontano, Utiel-Requena, Valdepenas, and Vinos de Madrid.

Credit: Mick Stephenson

There's a nice article about Tempranillo on JancisRobinson.com.


Not unusually, Anthony Watts didn't say where he copied his article from. Not a hint of a link.  Still, it wasn't hard to find the source as Basque Research (though I doubt Anthony copied it from there).  According to the press release, scientists grew the grape under different conditions. They tested for changes to three factors: climate change, water stress of the plant and soil texture.

To test for the impact of climate change, they studied what would happen with higher CO2, higher temperature and lower relative humidity, compared to vines situated in current climate conditions. They subjected vines to different moisture regimes:  properly hydrated plants (20-35% of water content in the soil) compared to vines subjected to water stress, irrigated with 40% less water. As regards the soil, three different textures were studied with clay contents of 9%, 18% and 36%.

So that's a lot of variables to compare.  What did they find?  Well, as expected, change affects the grape which affects the wine.  From the press release:

• Climate change was found to bring forward the grape harvest by nine days. This reduced the anthocyanin concentration, which resulted in red wines with less colour. It also caused an increase in the pH of the must. The pH level is a factor of interest for wineries, since it has to be low if the wines are going to be preserved optimally.
• The water shortfall, for its part, delayed ripening –the grape harvest was carried out ten days later– and the growth of the vine was reduced. This fact also meant an increase in the pH of the must and a reduction in polyphenol content. Polyphenols are found in grape skin and pips and give wines aroma, colour and taste. 
• The sandiest soils –with the lowest clay content– produced musts with a higher anthocyanin level, which yields wines with more colour.

The press release concluded with this statement, which probably annoyed Anthony no end:

The final aim of the study by Neiker-Tecnalia, the University of Navarre and the EEAD-CSIC is to make available information that will assist the wine growing sector in mitigating possible damage by the anticipated climate conditions or, where appropriate, to take advantage of the opportunities that may present themselves.

The climate is the factor that exerts the greatest influence on the suitability of a region for vine growing and wine production, since it directly affects the development of the vineyard and grape quality. Climate change is therefore an aspect that the sector needs to take very much into consideration.

The vineyard surface area across Spain amounts to 954,000 hectares, which is 5.6% of the total cultivated surface. The wine growing sector is an hugely important activity in terms of the economic value it generates, the population it employs and the role it plays in environmental conservation. 

Heaven forbid any practical research that will help wine grape growers in Spain, or anywhere else for that matter. The research is being carried out by scientists at the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development Neiker-Tecnalia, in collaboration with the University of Navarre and the Aula Dei (EEAD) Experimental Station of the National Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).

You can read more about the research in English, or if you prefer it, in Spanish or Basque.

Anthony Watts is no wine buff

It will come as no surprise that Anthony Watts is no wine connoisseur. What's the bet he doesn't own a corkscrew? I can hear all wine-loving readers groan as they read how Anthony dismisses the study by writing:

Note: Despite the claim, the grape has been planted throughout the globe in places with diverse climates such as Mexico, New Zealand, California, Oregon, Washington State, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Portugal, Uruguay, Turkey and Canada.

It grows best at relatively high altitudes, but it also can tolerate a much warmer climate according to: researcher Sid Perkins “Global Vineyard. Can technology take on a warming climate?”. Science News http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-118376057.html  (29 May 2004).

- Anthony

Someone tell Anthony that there are wines and there are wines.  Wine grapes will grow in regions as far north as Quebec and as far south as Tasmania and places in between, even Queensland.  The same variety grown in different places will differ hugely. Wine grapes grown on different slopes in the same region will produce quite different wines. The same vines will produce different tasting wine from year to year, with slight changes in weather.

Follow the sheep

As for the Tempranillo grape, it's been the fastest growing grape variety in Australia. That's in terms of area planted, not in terms of how long it takes to grow.  You can read more about it here, from a wine perspective.  Hugh Hamilton of McLaren Vale bottles it as "Scoundrel" with his black sheep label and writes:

Tempranillo (pronounce it temp-ra-nee-oh) is the most widely planted red grape variety in Spain. It is to the Spaniards what Shiraz is to Australians. The Spanish make it into every style of wine from a light red to heavy, “slap-ya-chops” tannic reds.

It's not just Australia that used to ride on the sheep's back, I've read that in the Rioja region of Spain, the same country that grows Tempranillo is also home to sheep.

From the WUWT comments

There is no pleasing deniers. Model change and they cry that models are wrong. Do field trials and they are still not happy wanting either more or none. If you want to see ignorant and crass, read on. Otherwise, pull out the cork on a nice bottle of the red stuff.



Tom Moran says they should have run the field trials (eg of higher CO2) in his grandma's garden!

May 1, 2014 at 5:44 am
Otter (ClimateOtter on Twitter) says: May 1, 2014 at 3:31 am ‘The research has been conducted in a greenhouse environment’ “Annnnd THAT’S where it FAILed for me.”

Me to! Does anyone actually prefer grocery store bought greenhouse/hothouse tomatoes over vine ripened, picked from grandmas garden, bursting with flavor and juice tomatoes? No, I didn’t think so….

Bruce Cobb is a dumb as conspiracy theorist. I mean he doesn't even know what Lysenko did. He says:

May 1, 2014 at 6:02 am
My bogosity meter on this “study” pegged. Creating a fictitious environment with the pathetic excuse that it’s what “could” happen, and then examining the results of that fictitious environment isn’t science.
Furthermore, negative results from the “experiment” were not only expected, but were a requirement. We are watching nothing but a repeat of Lysenkoism on a massive, worldwide scale.

Bryan A pretends to be a wine buff, but sounds more like a wino. He wants more research on different varieties in different conditions and says:

May 1, 2014 at 6:07 am
They need to run the same test on different varieties of grapes. During the drought of 1977 (a very DRY year in California’s history) the wine industry produced some highly valued wines. Rieslings that were normally $15 per bottle were being sold for upwards of $200 each. Because of throw DRIER CONDITIONS combined with the LATER HARVEST the Brix (natural sugar level) was much higher and produced a white wine that was still good over 20 years later. We opened our last bottle for our 15th wedding anniversary in 1999 and discovered that at 22 the wine was still superior

hunter doesn't find it "credible" and says:

May 1, 2014 at 6:38 am
This grape study could be no less credible if Lewandowsky had authored it.
It has everything: deception, distraction, a pre-determined outcome, contrived evidence, cherry picking- in other words, a typical product of the climate hype industry.

RoHa is more concerned about Anthony's geographism than the fate of his favourite wine grape and says:

May 1, 2014 at 3:24 am
“with diverse climates such as Mexico, New Zealand, California, Oregon, Washington State, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Portugal, Uruguay, Turkey and Canada.”

Strange that you spell out three US states, but not the relevant states/provinces of Australia, Argentina, Mexico, and Canada. There are enormous variations in climate in all those countries. Even Canada. And the climate of the south coast of Turkey is different from the mountains in the North East.

MattN is about the only person at WUWT who seems to have a clue about wine and says:

May 1, 2014 at 4:06 am
Of course they will change with a changing climate. All grapes do. +/- an inch of rain or +/- half a degree over the growing season changes the flavor. Hell, PICKING THE GRAPES AT NIGHT makes the wine have a different flavor!

It’s kinda what makes wine so awesome. It’s always different every year. Some years its spectacular.