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The wine industry’s battle with climate change
High Country News ^ | May 1, 2017 | by Emily Benson

Posted on 05/01/2017 9:30:06 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Winery owner Brent Helleckson’s hands flew among his budding grapevines, pruning off bits of cane as a spring breeze ruffled the plastic tape keeping the vines trellised to wires. On the other side of Western Colorado’s North Fork Valley, snow lingered on mountain peaks, a reminder of the wintery weather that circumscribes the vineyard’s operations. “In theory we’re done with frost now,” Helleckson said. “But I wouldn’t bet on it.”

In a warming West, areas where wine grapes are growing at the limit of their cold tolerance may see a respite from frigid, plant-damaging winters. Warmer areas, meanwhile, including parts of California, may become too hot for the high-quality wine grapes that thrived there in the past. Thanks to the resilient nature of grapevines and the growing demand for regional wine, experts don’t expect vineyards to disappear from the West.

To keep producing top-notch grapes, viticulturists may need to relocate their operations. In California and Washington, for example, some growers are already planting vineyards further north or moving up in elevation, Keller says. They can also combat the heat by hanging shade cloth or positioning rows on a sun-sheltered north-facing slope. Another option is to grow varieties that are better suited to a warmer or drier climate, though that can become a moving target as the climate continues to change.

“Is the Colorado wine industry going to crash?” Hammon asks. “No, it’s going to adapt.” That will be true of the West’s wine industry overall as growers and producers face the realities of climate change.

(Excerpt) Read more at hcn.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: climatechange; climategate; hoax; marxism; socialism; vineyard; wine; winecountry
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1 posted on 05/01/2017 9:30:06 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Britain used to have a wine industry.
Nova Scotia used to grow grapes — the Vikings called it “Vinland”.

We’re currently in a cold phase, in the big scheme of things.


2 posted on 05/01/2017 9:35:06 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’ll bet wine prices will go UP!


3 posted on 05/01/2017 9:35:10 AM PDT by FrankR (FULL REPEAL, OR NO DEAL)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Emily Benson is an editorial intern at High Country News.

That means we're getting this fake news from an unpaid millennial who can only find work writing for a wine industry newspaper.

4 posted on 05/01/2017 9:41:02 AM PDT by Flick Lives
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

OMG!!! Humans will not starve after all, they’ll ADAPT, imagine THAT!!!!


5 posted on 05/01/2017 9:41:11 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Colorado needs to stick to Peaches.
Their wines suck.


6 posted on 05/01/2017 9:41:54 AM PDT by Zathras
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
re:In theory we’re done with frost now,”

I live in PA and was always taught we are nor free of frost till after Memorial Day.

7 posted on 05/01/2017 9:45:00 AM PDT by IC Ken
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

That vintner may live in Colorado but he ain’t no Coloradoan


8 posted on 05/01/2017 9:51:50 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There are ALREADY vineyards & wineries in Washington. And Canada...

http://www.winebc.com/


9 posted on 05/01/2017 9:56:04 AM PDT by Twotone (Truth is hate to those who hate truth.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

We were promised a static environment! This is all so unfair!!!


10 posted on 05/01/2017 9:56:40 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Oldeconomybuyer; catnipman
Global warming didn’t pan out, and now climate change is failing, so the new anthropocentric doomsday mantra is “extreme weather”.

“Extreme Weather” is the perfect bugaboo because within our short lifetimes each of us experiences or hears about weather more intense than what we normally experience, and in our limited perspectives, we naturally view such events as extreme.

Since normal people do not study weather history, we actually have no idea at all what “extreme weather” really is, though we think we do. Therefore, when we’re told fake explanations for what causes “extreme weather”, we all nod our heads wisely.

posted on 4/30/2017, 9:01:32 AM by catnipman

11 posted on 05/01/2017 10:17:53 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ("Fake news is just another name for slander or libel, and should be prosecuted."!!!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Call me when the temperature average is different by over a single degree. That may or may not be this century...


12 posted on 05/01/2017 10:30:05 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Twotone
There are ALREADY vineyards & wineries in Washington. And Canada...

Of course there are. Wine grapes can be grown as far north as 50 degrees latitude, or the rough equivalent of Calgary, Alberta.

I was stationed in Germany for four years, lived in a Mosel River town by the name of Traben-Trarbach. My favorite winery, about a ten minute drive from my apartment is located in Briedel, latitude 50.02 degrees latitude.

Dozens of wineries in that area produce award winning wines every year. In fact, it's time for me to place another order with that winery. They ship to Texas, and I'm able to buy direct from them at less than half of retail.

I also noticed that Pampa, ID has two dozen wineries, located on the Snake River.

13 posted on 05/01/2017 10:30:06 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: ClearCase_guy
"The Romans introduced wine making to England, and even tried to grow grapes as far north as Lincolnshire. Winemaking continued at least down to the time of the Normans with over 40 vineyards in England mentioned in the Domesday Book, although much of what was being produced was for making communion wine for the Eucharist."wikipedia
14 posted on 05/01/2017 10:30:22 AM PDT by muleskinner
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To: Night Hides Not

Lincolnshire is between 53 and 54 degrees latitude, so we have a ways to go to catch up to the weather 2000 years ago.


15 posted on 05/01/2017 10:36:36 AM PDT by muleskinner
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“A Walk In The Clouds”


16 posted on 05/01/2017 10:40:14 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: muleskinner
so we have a ways to go to catch up to the weather 2000 years ago.

Have patience, my FRiend...lol!

17 posted on 05/01/2017 10:46:34 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: Night Hides Not

We live in Emmett, Idaho about 30 minutes north of Boise. Yes, there are many wineries around here. We just moved last July & haven’t had a chance to investigate the local wineries. Something to look forward to later this year...


18 posted on 05/01/2017 11:00:06 AM PDT by Twotone (Truth is hate to those who hate truth.)
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To: Yaelle
People are nuts, aren't they? We have always had climate change including several ice age cycles where much of North America was covered under sheets of ice. Continents continue to drift as they always have. Earthquakes, volcanos and storms continue to happen, with varying intensity, as they always have since the beginning of time.

These processes occur over thousands and even millions of years. Sending billions of dollars to Paris for "research" or trying to get people to stop using fossil fuels will do NOTHING to stop the next ice age. Though it is far more likely that the human race will go extinct out of stupidity before the next ice age comes the way we are going. If not, our distant descendants (hundreds of generations from now) living up north might have to consider migrating further south for a few thousand years while the ice sheets make their regular pilgrimage south.

Now let's talk about wine! When I was a kid, wine either came from France or California and it was expensive, unless you were Italian and you bought jug wine at the supermarket.

Now wine comes from all sorts of unlikely places like Oregon, Virginia or Long Island. Not to mention practically every civilized nation on earth. We are very rich in wine.

19 posted on 05/01/2017 11:08:24 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

SOOOOO.... Are people admitting the ‘people’ can adapt to a changing climate?


20 posted on 05/01/2017 11:22:54 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Flinging poo is not a valid argument)
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