In Wine We Trust

Published 08th November 2009 - 4 comments - 1316 views -

I come from a country that holds a strong wine tradition. My grandfather grows his own grapes and makes wine every autumn, just like thousands and thousands of Romanians who share a history and a sheer admiration for what we consider a drink of time.

Until climate change began to show its rotten face. The hotter the days and warmer the nights global warming has already started to bring in, the quicker the quality of grapes is affected because they require just the right climate - hot during the day and cool at night - to grow and preserve their taste. Extreme temperatures (over 37 degrees C) make grapes and vine to shut down and leaves to burn.

A product resulting from fermentation of grape sugars (glucose and fructose) and their transformation into alcohol, wine goes through several processes, from grain to grape to glass of wine, that are all natural and of course, imply a bigger or smaller number of different living organisms, man doing nothing more than to control, as much as possible, the transformation process.

Just like alchemic potions, wine shares a mystery in every glass, it is alive and constantly evolves. A bottle of average wine can become unbelievably tasteful after ten or fifteen years and, in the same manner, a fresh, fruity wine, great to drink in the same season the grapes are picked, can become flat and dull after a couple more years of aging. If we have quality grapes, that is.

Traditionally, we crush grapes up with our feet, we gather must in the barrels and leave it to ferment in the cellar, until the time for the first decanting comes. Fermentation happens solely under the action of wild yeasts that live spontaneously on the grapes’ skin. In an excessively long and warm fall (like we still have this year), the temperature of the fermentation can go up to 60-70 degrees C and people say that wine is boiling. If cooled suddenly, boiling is stopped but there’s still plenty of sugar left in the must and the process needs to go on. The same thing starts all over again in spring, until yeasts finish their job. If yeasts are ill, the drink easily turns into vinegar, a pathetic, yet practical death of wine.

How does modern technology change the traditional process? Grapes are picked and pressed in grape crushers at a pressure of 1-1.5 atmospheres. Must is then put in absolutely neutral, stainless steel containers, where is left to ferment until the enologist decides otherwise.

Everything happens under the protection of nitrogen or co2 to prevent oxidation, temperature is kept at 12-16 degrees C so that all flavors of the grapes are not lost in the process. Subsequent operations like filtering are limited and, thanks to the protection of the co2, other conditioning treatments are minimal. The substances used in these processes (like egg whites for example) are natural.

As for the tricky line on the label: This product contains sulfites – the explanation is simple.  Metabisulphite is a substance used to disinfect and preserve the hygiene of wine barrels, and it’s essential in the process of obtaining a good wine. My grandpa has been always burning sulfur ribbons for the same purpose in his couple of wine barrels.

It is true that yeasts used in fermentation are highly selected. It is true that processes are often driven by enzymes, but they’re biological substances, nothing unnatural.

It’s also true that grapes can be treated with herbicides and all sorts of substances that have nothing to do with ecology. But because these substances change the taste of wine grapes, no serious premium vineyards want to risk their reputation and they stick to the natural way.

It is also true that climate change has already modified some wines or pushed vineyards to move up North. "With wine, we can taste climate change," says Gregory V. Jones, a climatologist at Southern Oregon University and a leading researcher in the burgeoning field of wine-region climate studies.  "You can honestly argue that Bordeaux is better off today. They can now consistently ripen their grapes."

I am not into Bordeaux, but I feel the taste difference with wine from my own backyard (well, in fact from my grandpa’s). The swirly, rose glass of wine I was allowed to taste when I was a teenager became a dry wine, yet more challenging for the palate today. Some European vineyards have felt the nice effects of the climate change, but quality wine is mourning in many others.

And we’re still guilty of allowing global changes to affect what has always been seen as the drink of gods, sparkle of life, ecology in its deepest essence.

P.S. Who knows where are the pics taken?

Category: Climate Reporting, | Tags: climate change, global warming, wine, ecology,

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Adela
Earth
Independent (Copy)writer

I write for a living. I take photos for fun. I tell stories for having a story to live by.

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