Most of the earth is experiencing more hot days, heatwaves and more severe storms. Higher temperatures can be an advantage in cold and marginal wine regions, such as the UK, Scandinavia and even Champagne but, in most regions, it means a loss of quality in the grapes: lower acidities, higher alcohols and coarser flavours.
Most of the debate on climate change is focused on heat, but some parts of Europe are also having to deal with higher humidity: warmer air holds more moisture than colder air. Humidity leads to greater risk of fungal diseases in vines, and disease pressure leads vignerons to spray more fungicides – which aren’t good for the environment or our health.
Germany, in particular, has been working on developing disease-resistant grape types, known as PiWi varieties (pronounced “pee-vee”), which are hybrids. These usually result from multiple cross-breeding of known disease-resistant vines with vines that are desirable for their flavour.
At the great Italian family estate, Anselmi, in the Soave region of the Veneto, the family has planted 40,000 vines of three of these new varieties: souvignier gris, resistant riesling and muscaris. As of the 2023 vintage, they are incorporating some of these grapes into their famous blends, San Vincenzo, Capitel Foscarino and Capitel Croce.
At present, they’re using relatively small percentages, which won’t affect the taste of the wines, but they firmly believe these new vines will play an important part in the future of Italian wine. For the moment, though, the traditional white grape of the region, garganega, still makes up the majority of the blends, along with small proportions of the “international” varieties sauvignon blanc and chardonnay.
Managing the heat spikes is another story, but wine producers are a resourceful and resilient lot; rest assured that they’ll deal with the challenges ahead.
This question was submitted by G.P., Dubbo, NSW. Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au
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