“Today, making good wine is not enough. What’s your social ethic? What’s your environmental ethic?”
Ensenada in an industrial area that has been repurposed and now houses a handful of smaller wineries. In San Diego County, growers are finding different challenges and solutions. Growers such Chris Broomell at Vesper Vineyards are having to implement dry-farming techniques to avoid irrigation, such as growing bush vines rather than the trellis system you find across most California vineyards. The bush vines need much less water and form a canopy that shields grapes from direct sunlight—something growers do in hot climates like the South of France, Spain, and Australia. “The trellis system is set for cheap economics, not quality,” Broomell says. “But with bush vines you have to farm it, and understand farming. Everything is way more expensive.” Even that may not be enough. According to Broomell, vines need about 12 inches of rain per year for dry farming, and San Diego only got between 3 and 10 inches last year, depending on factors like elevation, proximity to the ocean, and other environmental factors. Broomell GLASSES OF RED Winemaker Lulu Martinez of Bruma Vinícola worked in Bordeaux before her beginning her current role in Valle de Guadalupe, where she finds herself harvesting grapes earlier and earlier each year. BYOW Jody and Emily Towe lug a few bottles through their J. Brix vineyard.
As he moves Madera 5 more toward hotter-climate Italian varieties like barbera or sangiovese, Segura believes that half of the grape varieties currently grown in Valle de Guadalupe need to be abandoned for the future. But that’s easier said than done. Wine drinkers still love and cling to what they’re familiar with. “People like the words cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir,” he says. All over the wine world, there is talk about which new varieties need to be planted to deal with climate change. That’s the message of the study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which looked at models for how various grapes would thrive in various climates. “By switching these varieties around, you can reduce losses by a significant amount,” said Cook. For example, the study’s authors say Burgundy could cut its projected vineyard losses in half if it switched from pinot noir to heat-loving grapes like mourvèdre or grenache. In Europe, where regions have grown the same grapes for hundreds of years,
saw his grape yield drop by about a third this year. The drought is also causing another new threat: Coyotes. Broomell says coyotes will eat grapes from certain vineyards, and they also chew through irrigation systems, rendering them inoperable. Broomell estimates he lost about 20 to 50 percent of his grapes in certain vineyards to coyotes. Beyond dry farming, water treatment plants, and coyote management, there’s also possibly a more straightforward solution: Grow different grapes. Both San Diego County and Valle de Guadalupe are very different than Bordeaux, Burgundy or Napa. Many suggest it’s time to move on from the internationally famous grapes such as cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, or chardonnay and to focus on new varieties—ones that like heat and don’t require as much water. “We are working with so many grapes here,” Segura says of Baja. “It’s crazy, but there’s not been much investigation into it. Sooner or later, we need to decide which grapes do better here.”
48 DECEMBER 2022
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