Sunday, November 22, 2009

ONGOING COVERAGE: WSU REPORTING PROJECT: WARMING

Warming helps, not hurts, Washington wine industry

Slideshow Vineyard to winery

Lynsi Burton
Special to The Spokesman-Review
December 13, 2008

When Rick Small began growing wine grapes in the 1970s as a third-generation farmer in Lowden, Wash., winemaking in Washington was largely an experimental venture.

“I wasn’t sure that it was going to be successful,” said Small, co-owner of Woodward Canyon Winery. “I just was excited about the possibilities.”

Today, Washington is second to California in premium-wine production in the U.S. and the Washington wine industry contributes nearly $3 billion to the state economy.

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Warming trends have helped make the thriving Northwest wine industry possible, one expert believes.

“I don’t think that the Northwest was very suitable for wine grapes 50 years ago,” said Gregory V. Jones, a professor and climatologist at Southern Oregon University specializing in viticulture and enology research.

In a 2003 study he co-authored, he found the average temperature of 27 major wine regions in the world increased by about two degrees celsius between 1950 and 1999, including Eastern and Central Washington. He predicted temperatures will increase another two degrees between 2000 and 2049.

“Today, the climates are more suitable to wine grape production in the Pacific Northwest than ever,” Jones said.

While experts believe climate change may adversely impact the Pacific Northwest’s natural habitats, energy and wildfire frequency, local wine grapes have emerged as a beneficiary of warmer temperatures. There’s disagreement among farmers, however, on just how much of an impact these trends will have on the industry.

Small, chairman of the Washington Wine Commission, has seen considerable changes since he first began farming, though he isn’t sure whether it’s global warming.

“Since 1999 to 2000,” Small said, “it’s been ridiculously warm, warmer than I’ve ever seen before.”

Temperatures and tastes both contribute

Farmers have toyed with different wine grape varieties and tested to see what thrives in the region, said Markus Keller, professor of viticulture at Washington State University in Prosser.

In the years following the Washington wine industry’s commercial start in the 1970s, the predominant grapes were white varieties, such as Chardonnay and Riesling. However, in recent years, the market has trended toward red varieties, such as cabernet sauvignon and merlot, due to consumer preferences for darker wines.

Though warmer temperatures have made the popular, darker wines possible in this region, consumer preferences have had at least as large an effect on the types of grapes , said Wade Wolfe, co-owner of Thurston Wolfe winery in Prosser.

Nonetheless, changes in average temperatures have been mostly positive, with warmer ripening conditions and an improvement in grape quality in the last 10 years, Keller said.

Small feels differently about the changes in grape ripening.

“I’m not sure I like it,” he said. “If wines are very fruity, they generate very high levels of alcohol, and they don’t complement food as well.”

To address those changes, Woodward Canyon is already experimenting with planting its grapes on north slopes instead of south slopes, Small said. Other farmers may plant on higher elevations or on land closer to the Cascade Mountains or Canada.

Jones, the professor at Southern Oregon University, said, “if things continue to change … what we now know to be suitable won’t be suitable in the next 50 years.” He doesn’t see that as a problem, however. “People in agribusiness adapt all the time,” he said. “They’re more resilient to climate change than any other sector in society. … The people growing wine grapes have been adapting all along.”

Uncertainty among farmers

Dick Boushey, co-owner of Boushey Vineyards near Grandview, Wash., isn’t concerned about a warming trend.

“We’ve had some extremely hot years in the last 10 years, but we’ve also had extremely cold years,” Boushey said. “I don’t know what a normal year is.”

Though 2008 is said to be a cooler year, Keller said, the warm temperatures in the past several years have tricked observers into thinking this more-average year was cold.

Wolfe said that while he does recognize a local warming trend, it’s difficult to attribute it to global warming because short-term temperature patterns have a greater impact on agriculture than long-term trends.

“We have not seen any immediate signs of global warming,” he said. “Whether or not that’s good or bad for us, that’s to be determined.”

In Washington, a relatively new wine region that has only had a serious industry for 30 years, wine grape growers are flexible, which will help combat any unusual climate changes, Boushey said.

But Kent Waliser, general manager of Sagemoor Vineyards near the Tri- Cities, said that predictions of climate change have had little impact on the way wine grape growers perform their trade.

“We’re not changing future plantings based on what people think might happen," he said.

Market demands and day-to-day or year-to-year concerns such as safety and pest management are more immediate concerns, Boushey said.

“What we’re doing is helping to prepare for climate change by using less water,” he said. “We’re more ready for this than maybe the rest of the world.”

Still positive about the industry

In the last 50 years, snowpack in the Cascade Mountains has decreased by as much as 30 percent, scientists say, and it could continue to decline. For farmers like Boushey, that’s a big concern. He depends on Yakima River drainage, so a decrease in snowpack could reduce the amount of water his wine grapes get.

So far, declining snowpack has not hurt local wine grapes because there is the same amount of overall precipitation, Keller said. However, more of that precipitation will come in the form of rain instead of snow.

Because of this, the water supply from snow might flow to the crops in the spring instead of the summer months when it’s needed, Jones said.

Boushey asserts that vineyards use half to one-third the amount of water used for other crops such as pears and apples.

“Wine grapes will be the last to go,” Boushey said.

Furthermore, the wine industry benefits from its attachment to the tourism and hospitality industries, allowing it to remain an economically strong crop even if other crops suffer, Wolfe said.

Though farmers know there are great challenges ahead, they remain positive about the thriving wine industry they have helped foster.

Boushey said Washington has a real advantage over other wine industries such as those in Europe because in older wine regions, farmers are restricted to growing one wine for each region as they have for centuries.

“Here, we’re not tied to that, we can grow any varieties anywhere,” he said. “We’re not bound by tradition like some of these areas.”