Do Something Different

50% of new world wine making only uses 7 varieties of grapes, none of which are native to the new world.

This was one of the truth bombs dropped at the VitiNord conference that I attended last week in Burlington, Vermont. VitiNord is the preeminent international cold climate viticulture and oenology conference.

Which might make you wonder, Why would a winemaker from Los Angeles want to attend a conference for cold climate grapes and wine?

The reason I was excited about this conference was that I think it’s in the colder climates, that have not been the traditional regions for growing wine, that the most innovation is happening in the wine industry.

In those regions with brutal winters and extreme weather, like Scandinavia and North Central Europe, Canada, and New England and the Upper Midwest of the US, those 7 varieties that make up 50% of the wine industry couldn’t grow well. So these regions have always invested significant resources in breeding, adaptation, and innovation, out of necessity, in order to make wine that could both survive and compete with the global vinifera monoculture.

These marginal regions have attracted the curious and the brave and those with a more ecological mindset. They’re now in a much better position to deal with the rapidly changing world environment than the stagnate vinifera culture that has essentially invested in life support systems for a dying industry, rather than investing in keeping wine out of the hospital in the first place.

To put it another way, the cold climate winegrowers have had to prepare their vines for the world, rather than prepare the world for their vines. I believe the future of wine is in these cold regions, both in terms of the ideas and the fruit that will be able to thrive in the future.

That’s not to say that there isn’t an enormous waste of resources on growing vinifera in these cold climates. There is. At VitiNord I found out about the use of geotextiles to grow vines. The use of geotextiles is akin to building a long, skinny greenhouse for every row in a vineyard, within which the fragile vinifera vines are tucked every year to survive the winter.
 

Rows of vines under geotextiles.

The simple alternative to this huge input of materials and labor, in order to grow something that doesn’t belong in that region, is to breed and grow something that actually belongs in that region. I guess the next step in vinifera cultivation will be giant Plexiglas domes that are climate controlled.

On the other hand, based on the findings of the wine climatologist, Greg Jones – who was the keynote speaker on the morning of the first day of the conference – it might not be long before these cold climates become warm climates. So maybe they won’t need geotextiles for long.
 

I seem to see these graphs all the time because of my interest in viticulture. Those of us directly involved in agriculture have perhaps become inured to the reality of the data. But it occurs to me that it might be good for more of us to see these graphs.

A direct quote from one of the speakers in the context of these climate realities was, “If you’re in agriculture, you need to experiment.”

We’re actually all “in agriculture” since our survival depends on successful, sustainable agriculture, and our choices of what we eat and drink help direct whether agriculture will be successful and sustainable into a future where all the graphs show the same trends.

The good news is that there are lots of new, delicious choices that can support a more ecological form of wine, if you’re open to experimenting. If you haven’t heard of Itasca, La Crescent, Solaris, Petite Pearl, Crimson Pearl, and Marquette, these are vines that both thrive in extreme climates and make incredible wines.

These are just a handful of the many varieties that are available, and I can’t emphasize the quality of these wines enough. I tasted stunning examples from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Denmark, and more are in the pipeline from breeders in these regions.

I was also thrilled to find out that Nova Scotia has embraced something you’ve heard me talk (rant?) about before – the idea that we need to abandon varietal labeling of wines and begin to wrap our heads around understanding wine without relying on knowing the varieties of grapes from which it is made.

Tidal Bay, in Nova Scotia, is unique in North America. It is a conglomerate brand in which 14 wineries participate currently. Every year each winery must submit their wines for blind judging to determine if the quality meets the standards for the brand (and it’s not a foregone conclusion that you’ll be approved, even if you’re a member winery). The wine you submit must be white wine of that meets the desired style of the Tidal Bay brand: fresh, aromatic, crisp (something that goes really well with Nova Scotia’s fresh seafood culture).

And there’s never any designation of what the varieties of grapes are or must be.

So if you make a wine of the Tidal Bay style, and it is judged to be of sufficient quality, it can carry the Tidal Bay label. I think it’s an exciting idea, and has some great consumer benefits. Check it out!

The slogan on the Tidal Bay marketing material is:
“When 80% of the wine in the world is made from the same 20 grapes, do something different.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I will be interviewing many of the producers I met at VitiNord for the Organic Wine Podcast. If you haven’t listened to it yet, the Organic Wine Podcast is a library of soon-to-be-over 100 episodes of interviews and conversations about wine from an ecological perspective that can change the way you think about wine. You can find it on most major podcast apps, and it can make for some great listening during holiday travels.

Enjoy!
Adam