![Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto del Pais and several other synonyms) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its native Spain.[1] Its name is the diminutive of the Spanish temprano ("early"),[1] a reference to the fact that it ripens several weeks earlier than most Spanish red grapes.](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/tempranillocluster-1.jpg?quality=83)
Climate change is set to affect the quality of the wines of the Tempranillo grape variety, according to the conclusions of a piece of research conducted by 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). Scientists from these bodies have studied the behaviour of the vines in conditions of climate change; in other words, higher temperature, increased presence of CO2 and greater environmental aridity.
The result is a must with a lower anthocyanin content, which leads to wines with less colour and therefore lower quality. The results of the research, led by the agricultural engineer Urtzi Leibar, have been presented at the conference of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), held in Vienna (Austria).
The research has been conducted in a greenhouse environment with vines of the species ‘Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo’. The three factors studied were climate change, water stress of the plant and soil texture. To analyse the effect of climate change on the grapes, some vines were placed in conditions of a greater presence of CO2, higher temperature and lower relative humidity, while other vines were situated in current climate conditions.
In addition to the CO2 and temperature changes, climate change is expected to cause a reduction in rainfall, with this rainfall being distributed across more extreme events. That is why the researchers subjected the vines to two different treatments. One with properly hydrated plants (20-35% of water content in the soil) and the other treatment consisted of plants subjected to water stress, and which were irrigated with 40% less water. As regards the soil, three different textures were studied with clay contents of 9%, 18% and 36%.
Among the most significant results as regards production and qualitative parameters, 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. As regards soils, the sandiest ones –with the lowest clay content– produced musts with a higher anthocyanin level, which yields wines with more colour.
Information of interest for the wine growing sector
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.
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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
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O.K. Now we really are doomed.
Yuk. I prefer Spätlese.
“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.
‘The research has been conducted in a greenhouse environment’
Annnnd THAT’S where it FAILed for me.
When getting rid of the MWP was important, it was unimportant to note that wine was produced at one time in the UK. Now an experiment that ignores the fact that the grape being studied is grown for wine in widely divergent climates is being used to show that AGW is going to hurt wine. The climate obsessed are so self-deceived, and deceptive.
Another grant hunt.
I visit a part of Spain to the south of the Navarre region, where Rioja is produced, and there the wine is from tempranillo grapes grown in drier hotter weather than that to the north. The wine is deeply coloured, full of flavour and very alcoholic (14.5%). It costs 1euro a litre which is much cheaper than those from Rioja which is unaffordable for the average Spaniard.
“Climate change is expected to cause a reduction in rainfall”??? Isn’t that at odds with all the ‘warmer air leads to more rain’ we are told about? I wish they’d get a consistent story at least.
Yesterday I walked past a newly planted vineyard near my home in the sw UK. It’s the first such attempt that I’m aware of in the immediate area, and will be interesting to see how successful it becomes.
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.
“It’s worse than we thought” (TM)
So we gave the plants “40% less water” and they didn’t do quite as well….
Obvious question – given this appears the best they could come up with – did they spend all their time drinking the produce rather than studying it??
Please stop with the uk and vinyards. there have been wines produced in uk for millenia. today I bring you this info from Ryedale Vineyards:
“Set on south facing slopes at the foot of the picturesque Yorkshire Wolds, Ryedale Vineyards is the most northerly commercial vineyard in England. Stuart and Elizabeth Smith planted in 2006 and have been producing award winning wines since 2009.”
Finnish climate is cooler and favor early harvest de facto. In parts of the sunny south there are sandy hills of accumulated glacial till. The whole country is saturated with fresh water – high quality in these till areas and available also slightly acidified with humus in the lowlands. In addition, in the name of agricultural self-sufficiency, Finns invest public resources into agriculture and related EU negotiations. Perfect for high quality wine production with ideal anthocyanin and polyphenol content, right? Yet no one talks about Finnish wines. How come?
I don’t understand.
Because, here in Spain, every year, the wine experts publish a guide with the best wines of the year. Some are good, some are average, some are excellent, some they just ignore. And with the same wine, the same grapes, the same methods of wine making, there are differences from year to year. The very hot and dry years, have a smaller yield than the rainy years, but it is usually of a better quality…
So the wine lovers buy the production of those promising years in bulk, before it even gets bottled… Which means, that, for the wine at least, warming climate should be good. Even if there was less of it. and it were bit more expensive as a result.
Good beer is cheaper, and much better than inferior wine , and would be a good substitute.
I conducted a similar experiment here in the West Midlands of UK. I used a Black Hamberg grape at about 2 foot tall to begin with. I did this because it was CC rattling in the background and the Romans apparently did it 200 miles North of me. It was grown outside and grew for 6 years becoming only leafy. So at the 6th year I warned it…grapes next year mate or your gone. A few bunches duly arrived a year later and a blackbird took the lot!
The weather here in the W. Midlands of UK is the very varied type and can be 3 at once..rain,snow,sun. I can smell the sea often. There are vineyards around here (worcestershire) and have been for quite some years. So as far as I am concerned the weather is similar to when the Romans where here and will flip – flop as required, My experiment was dumb really, because the soil was cr*p. My grape plant remains though, so I can get to taste at least one grape….maybe?
One wonders how this crud gets published…
“The research has been conducted in a greenhouse environment with vines of the species ‘Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo’. The three factors studied were climate change, water stress of the plant and soil texture.”
I am going back to watching “Flying High” on TV, as this movie has more credability than this “report” IMO.
How much co2, how fast was it added, how warm was the greenhouse? Is acclimatization possible over the next 86 years with the grape variety?
Abstract
Heat and water stress induce unique transcriptional signatures of heat-shock proteins and transcription factors in grapevine
Grapevine is an extremely important crop worldwide. In southern Europe, post-flowering phases of the growth cycle can occur under high temperatures, excessive light, and drought conditions at soil and/or atmospheric level. In this study, we subjected greenhouse grown grapevine, variety Aragonez…….. [Tempranillo]
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10142-013-0338-z
To
Ex-expat Colin.
Have you been to Buzzards Valley At Bassets pole?
Just down the road from Sutton Coldfield crematorium..
There is a Vine yard there.
Make all there own wine.
Only trouble is They planted it facing the wrong way.
Like most things in life.
Care and attention is required.
I grow grapes in my back garden in West Midlands.
I get Black grapes every year.
Just prune and feed them chickin pucky.
Which is why it’s being increasingly planted in the hotter wine growing areas in Australia…
http://chrisshanahan.com/articles/2013/tempranill-spaniard-with-big-future-in-australia/
You know what? I’m involved in a nasty estate quarrel (battle’s a better word but I’m trying to keep it civil). Believe me, this won’t be the first time where I’ve posted a comment where I’ve written, “Now, I know what you’re all thinking, whatever does a (insert word) have to do with (insert word)?” So, I won’t trouble you with saying that again concerning an estate battle and wine grapes because, well, I’ve, um, just done so.
Anyway, estate battles (oops, quarrels) are particularly nasty because all loving siblings (who are happy the other siblings have eyes they can gouge out) are fighting each other for a treasure pot of very limited size that they know if any other siblings get their hands (ok, greedy little paws) on it will do exactly what they themselves would do. Which is suck it dry.
Paul Ehrlich or John Holdren (or, insert every other name in addition to Holdren’s in the Obama administration – or, in fact, in just about any other Western government) style environmentalists are much like siblings in an estate battle (er, quarrel). They think we are all engaged in a global estate division but unlike a normal estate, where the beneficiaries pretty much know (assuming, of course, that the executor lets them) its size, these environmentalists, while they are convinced that the global estate is also of a fixed, limited size, they actually don’t have a single smidgen of a clue as to what size that is.
So, like the loving fellow siblings they like to tell us common folk that they are, these environmentalists are aligning with the estate executors (otherwise known as world leaders) to conspire to get as big a piece of the pie as they can. Environmentalism is nothing other than a fancy word for estate distribution.
Now, all the other bodies, groupings, societies, organizations, etc., after having witnessed the environmental movement (and its Death Star – global warming) for a couple decades have been led to believe that they better get on that inheritance list, and pronto, before all the other bodies, groupings, societies, organization, wine grape growers (see, I finally got to the subject), etc., suck the economies of the world dry.
That’s what all of this research is all about. And that’s why it’s all government funded.
I am probably off topic here.
But to Ex pat Colin I also grow Tobacco
I roll my own Cigars and make my own smoking Baccy.
( Its Totally legal ,Not a lot of people Noww thatt )
So not only is this grape grown in Canada but Thailand too. This grape looks like it more robust than previously thought (except lab conditions).
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/11/14/international-tempranillo-day/
Other grape varieties can be found in all sorts of places such as on the Morocco and on the equator in Kenya. At this rate grape vines will soon be considered weeds. 😉
RoHa says:
May 1, 2014 at 3:24 am
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Grapevine industry exists in many more places than was listed, but their presence is not often known. For instance, some years ago (1980’s?), many existing grapevines in France were wiped out by disease and the French came to Oklahoma and bought all of the replacement rootstock they could find. Rootstock from the Texas/Oklahoma region first saved the French wine industry in the mid 1800’s during the “Great French Wine Blight”, There is still a thriving grapevine industry in Oklahoma, but the wines produced are little known because of arcane state laws which prevent their effective distribution.
And a few other places: Chile, New Mexico, Texas, France, Thailand.
“There are more than 500,000 acres of Tempranillo planted around the world”
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/11/14/international-tempranillo-day/
http://www.yourwineiq.com/kindsofwine/redwine/tempranillo.html