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Jun 14, 2023

The Impact of Climate Change on Swiss Wine

The research race is on, in Switzerland as elsewhere, to clarify how abiotic factors affect plants’ phenology: we’re scrambling to learn precisely what happens to grapevines during their growing seasons when climate change causes interlinked problems due to shifts in temperature, water, solar radiation, and atmospheric CO2 concentration(1).

Swiss wines face the same challenges as others, but perhaps more quickly: from 2013 to 2021 temperatures rose by 2.5% compared to pre-industrial temperatures, versus 1.6% worldwide (2011-2020). From 1864 to 2016 in Switzerland they increased by 1.6%.[2]

The wineries are small by international standards. Artisanal cellars and cooperatives of family winemakers that seek high quality wines are the backbone of the industry.[3] Swiss producers sell more than 98% of their wine at home[4], but with consumption decreasing and cheap imports, the future is mid- and upper-range quality wines, says a 2023 report[5] from Valais, the largest wine region. Wines with character are a national strength, but consumers’ expectations also make these wineries vulnerable. Producers are obliged to innovate to survive the often unpredictable new physical environment that threatens their wines’ identities, while trying to maintain traditions and also convince clients to appreciate new approaches and new wines.[6]

Take rising temperatures. A study in Neuchatel, at the same latitude as Burgundy, shows that in just 60 years Neuchatel’s cool climate has become temperate and cool, and nights at harvest time temperate, with an impact on berry quality. Pinot Noir grapes, so important to the region, will need to be moved to higher altitudes to retain typicity and replanting can begin now for warmer climate grapes such as Merlot.[7]

Temperature change, solar radiation or light, and water availability are closely linked, but in ways that are not yet fully understood. An experiment with Petite Arvine vines and water deprivation in Valais (600 ml/year average precipitation, but down 50% in 2022[8]) noted that non-irrigated and highly stressed vines gave wines less interesting aromas and they were markedly more bitter. Other studies of water stress suggest that cutting back the shoots on vines in early summer to open up the canopy might no longer be best practice with higher temperatures and drought. Growers need to consider irrigation in areas where vines have been only rainfed in the past, raising questions about the timing and how much.[9]

With sustainability a growing challenge new fungus-resistant grapes have garnered strong interest, especially since the difficulties of the very wet 2021 vintage, but their adoption varies hugely. Overall, PIWI vines now account for 2.8% of Switzerland’s plantings, but they are only 1% in Vaud in the west and Valais, where political structures have long dictated which grapes are allowed. In central Switzerland, where the climate did not allow grape-growing until recently, and where there are far fewer regulations, PIWIs are 40%.[10]

An additional challenge is the political changes needed to act on research results.

 

Article written by Ellen Wallace

 

Sources:

[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2021.643258/full

[2] https://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/climat/changement-climatique.html

[3] https://swisswine.ch/en/Sustainability

[4] https://swisswine.ch/sites/default/files/professionals/swisswine_bookazine_e_web.pdf

[5] Press release Vins du Valais, 27 April 2023: Stratégie Viti Horizon 2030

[6] https://www.agridea.ch/en/themes/marches-filieres-agricoles-et-alimentaires/vins-du-futur/

[7] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00704-021-03836-1

[8] https://www.meteosuisse.admin.ch/portrait/meteosuisse-blog/fr/2023/04/valais.html

[9] https://www.revuevitiarbohorti.ch/wp-content/uploads/irrigation_032020_doc_1157.pdf

[10] https://piwi-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023_PIWI-CH-Piwi-sorten-im-Rampenlicht-von-Edy-Geiger.pdf

 

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