U.S. Wine Regions

[djsexyb]

check out this article. i might want to invest in the northeastern and northwestern wine markets and fast!! (according to that graphic).

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/clima...710141309990003

M

Edited July 11, 2006 by djsexyb (log)

[rich]

This story has been getting a lot of play the last two days.

But Bob Mondavi has a plan to build a huge air conditioning system that will cool Napa and Sonoma by 6.73 degrees over the next 50 years.

The hydraulic fans are being imported from Boeing as we speak.

[JohnL]

check out this article. i might want to invest in the northeastern and northwestern wine markets and fast!! (according to that graphic).

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/clima...710141309990003

M

←

I would take a step back and remove myself from the hysteria.

There are some interesting and salient points that can be found at the end of the

piece.

One--climate has always been changing--back and forth from hotter to colder and colder to hotter.

(over thousands of years).

Remember the ice age? (great for anyone producing eiswein!!!)

Two--what is primarily fueling the current "sky is falling" angst is data based upon computer modeling.

Of course we all know how infallible computers are!

For entertainment--I note the statement about historians being "perplexed" that grapes were once found in New England and Eastern Canada and are no longer seen there. The implication is that climate is somehow responsible. maybe it is just not that simple? We all know how the pilgrims loved their wine!!! (maybe the grapes migrated a tad south to the finger lakes of NY where they are found in abundance today. Gotta love those nutty historians!!!

My point is not to ignore or denigrate any concerns over "global warming" --rather to try to put the issue into some perspective. (and to point out some of the shoddy journalism that has been tossing gasoline on the proverbial fire--gotta sell papers).

Anyway--

all this talk of imminent destruction of the human race is makin me thirsty--time for a nice oregon pinot gris!!!

(or maybe I should go for a California Sauvignon blanc--according to the articel they won't be around much longer!)

cheers to all

[cdh]

Isn't the perplexing thing about northerly grape growing that the Vikings called Newfoundland "Vinland"... implying that grapes grew well up there?

And don't non-vinifera grapes still grow pretty well up in New England?

[JohnL]

Isn't the perplexing thing about northerly grape growing that the Vikings called Newfoundland "Vinland"... implying that grapes grew well up there? 

And don't non-vinifera grapes still grow pretty well up in New England?

←

Good points!

fact is grapes can grow pretty much everywhere.

Grapes that yield good wine don't grow everywhere.

The whole global warming thing is so overheated!

It has been so thoroughly politicized

on all sides of the issue, that any reasonable perspective

is hard to find.

The one truth I can find in all this is that headlines proclaiming

"the end is near"

tend to get one's attention!

(and sell more papers, generate more hits etc etc etc).

[djsexyb]

yeah i not really sure what i think about that article or global warming as a whole. i do find it wierd that chicago hasnt had a real winter in id say 5-6 or more years and the summers ahvent been hot at all for the same number of years or more. wierd. ill be dead, but my kids are going to have a hell of a time fixing the world that my ancestors and i made for them.,

[StevenC]

Isn't the perplexing thing about northerly grape growing that the Vikings called Newfoundland "Vinland"... implying that grapes grew well up there? 

And don't non-vinifera grapes still grow pretty well up in New England?

←

Funny you should mention it.

Having grown up in New England, where wild labrusca vines grow everywhere, the "Vinland" name never seemed implausible to me. Of course, the grapes that grow on those vines have a peculiar aroma, sort of like nail polish remover.

Vinifera vines don't really do well there, yet, except in milder microclimates along the coast... they die when winter temperatures consistently approach zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 C).

As for global warming, the threat isn't so much that places like Napa won't support viticulture any longer, but rather that specific terroirs will no longer be able to produce the unique qualities we've come to treasure. Norway might produce good Pinot Noir in 2150, but we will suffer a devastating loss indeed when Burgundy becomes subtropical.

Edited July 25, 2006 by StevenC (log)