Winemakers heading to the hills

Global warming is forcing vintners in Mediterranean countries like Spain, France and Italy to move to cooler areas, while producers in northern areas like Britain are benefiting from higher temperatures

Miguel Torres SA’s vineyards have survived bombs and plagues of parasites in the past 137 years. Now, the eponymous head of Spain’s largest family-owned winemaker says he’s facing a new threat: global warming.
“We are moving into cooler areas of Catalonia, which has the great advantage of having the Pyrenees 200 kilometres from here,” Miguel Torres, 64, said in an interview at Mas Rabell de Fontenac, a 14th-century farmhouse near the company’s headquarters in southern Catalonia.

“We have already planted vineyards successfully that we can use in the future.”

The fourth-generation vintner has planted vines one kilometre above sea level in the Pyrenean foothills near Tremp, in northern Spain, that are four times higher than the main winery. Torres plans to buy more land in cooler areas, and is spending $13.6 million to cut his company’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Torres aims to adapt to rising temperatures that scientists and vintners say might change Europe’s 16 billion-euro winemaking industry, with growing belts moving uphill and north. While northern areas like Britain stand to gain, Mediterranean nations like Spain, France and Italy, the three largest producers, will need to adjust.

The Gazette (Montreal)