I’m a wine critic and author with 30 years of tasting and fieldwork experience. It was the changing taste of my favourite wines that brought me to climate change, I founded The Wine and Climate Institute in Oxford (www.twacci.org) in 2016, after having published my first book on wine and climate change in 2014. This blog contains extracts from my UN research, my talks, articles and books, and it is all about wine, climate change, freshwater management, the water and earth sciences, coastal and maritime cultures such as the Vikings and the Saami, Northern issues, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and TEK, etc. Basically, all things Water and anything else that interests me. My greatest hope is to be part of the solution.
Climatologists consider the vitis vinifera to be the “canary in the coal mine”: so sensitive to climate is this fruit crop that many climate change models are based upon its migration patterns. So, forget “coal mine” and think “gold mine”. Even with the dampening prospect of climate change forcing many well-known wine regions to cease viticulture, and others to adapt, those that are improving and emerging mean that this $300 billion global market – not including its myriad of satellite industries – is witnessing soaring global consumption and production trends. It’s all about huge lateral shifts. But the larger this industry gets, so also grows its footprint. Today’s viticultural industry is ripe for the picking: it needs sustainable eco-friendly innovation that creates new activates in the industry, as opposed to merely sustaining it. It needs innovation that goes beyond adaptation and promises resilience. In fact, in the world of wine, most adaptation techniques (such as irrigation) directly contradict mitigation’s principal goals and undermine long-term resilience. As the world’s wine map shifts, new demands are created every harvest season. The opportunities for private-sector investment and invention to make eco-friendly technology accessible and understandable to an as yet relatively untouched client-base/market segment, are significant.
