stormbringer
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Roll your britches up before you read this one.</font>
</span>
Winemakers mull climate change at Barcelona conference
</span>Yahoo news, Sat Feb 16, 3:54 PM ET</span> </span>
<st1:City w
t="on">BARCELONA</span></st1:City>, <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Spain</st1
ountry-region> (AFP) - Carbon dixoide storage -- rather
than grapes and vintages -- was on the agenda at a wine-makers conference in <st1:City w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Barcelona</span></span></st1
lace></st1:City> Saturday,
as vintners mulled ways to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions</span></span>. </span>
Not everyone is aware that wine production
emits large quantities of CO2, the main gas responsible for climate change</span></span>.</span>
But that problem, along the potential
impact of global warming</span></span> on the wine industry, faced
the more than 350 producers, scientists, winemakers from 36 countries who
participated in the two-day conference that ended Saturday.</span>
The experts included representatives from
some of the world's leading wine-making countries -- notably <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Spain</span></span></st1
ountry-region>,
<st1
ountry-region w
t="on">France</span></span></st1
ountry-region>, <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Australia</span></span></st1
ountry-region>,
the <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">United States</st1
ountry-region>, <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">New
Zealand</span></span></st1
ountry-region> and <st1
ountry-region w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Australia</st1
lace></st1
ountry-region>.</span>
The meeting was clouded by a series of
alarming warnings Friday, with experts saying global warming would lead to
"harder" and less aromatic wines.</span>
"The consequences of global warming
are already being felt. Harvest season already comes ten days earlier than
before in almost all wine regions," warned French expert Bernard Seguin.</span>
The congress was due to wrap up Saturday
evening with a video conference by former US vice-president Al Gore</span></span>,
who won the 2007 Nobel peace prize</span></span> for his work on climate change.</span>
Spanish producer Miguel Torres told
delegates he was pioneering "carbon capture and storage," whereby
harmful CO2
emissions</span></span> are trapped and stored underground.</span>
At the foot of the Cordilleras of the Andes
in <st1
ountry-region w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Chile</span></span></st1
lace></st1
ountry-region>,
Torres has already set up the first recovery process for the CO2 produced by
fermenting grapes, he said.</span>
"We are trying to convert CO2 into
something solid, which will remain in the ground, instead of being emitted into
the air," he said.</span>
If the <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Chile</st1
ountry-region>
project -- which Torres admits is still a small pilot experiment -- is
successful, he intends to implement a much bigger programme in <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Spain</st1
ountry-region>, with co-financing from the regional
government of <st1:State w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Catalonia</st1
lace></st1:State>.</span>
Deep underground storage of CO2 is
currently being tested in a variety of locations worldwide, from under the
seabed off the coasts of <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Norway</span></span></st1
ountry-region>
and <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Australia</st1
ountry-region>, to an
oilfield in <st1:State w
t="on">Texas</span></span></st1:State> and a coal seam in
<st1
ountry-region w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Poland</span></span></st1
lace></st1
ountry-region>.</span>
Carbon storage was widely discussed at the
UN climate
change conference</span></span> in <st1
lace w
t="on">Bali</span></span></st1
lace> last
December and is one of the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change</span></span> (IPCC) which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with
Gore.</span>
Banrock Station Wines in <st1
ountry-region w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Australia</st1
lace></st1
ountry-region> is
another producer aiming to be a model of sustainable development.</span>
"These are the first steps, but they
are very important" said Tony Sharley, the company's scientist. "The
reforestation of areas close to the vineyards" may also help reduce the
carbon footprint, he said.</span>
But the wine companies are also having to
search out new areas for their vines in order to protect quality, as the earth</span></span>
heats up.</span>
"We move the vines to areas higher and
cooler. Vines that are planted before on the coast have moved further inland
and land toward the mountain," said Torres, pointing to a new vineyard at
the foot of the Pyrenees, near <st1:City w
t="on">Lerida</st1:City> in <st1:State w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Catalonia</st1
lace></st1:State>.</span>
Other vintners were less worried. </span>
Wine-maker Jacques Lurton told the
conference that the problems from climate change</span></span> were all
relative. </span>
In the northern hemisphere, climate change
is "not yet a problem for wine," whilst in the southern hemisphere, <st1
ountry-region w
t="on">Argentina</span></span></st1
ountry-region>
and <st1
ountry-region w
t="on"><st1
lace w
t="on">Chile</span></span></st1
lace></st1
ountry-region>,
for example, still have enormous potential, and "no water problems,"
he said. </span>
While admitting that some French regions,
such as <st1:City w
t="on">Bordeaux</st1:City>, <st1:State w
t="on">Alsace</st1:State>
and <st1
lace w
t="on">Moselle</st1
lace>, were "were making wines near
their climactic limit," Lurton added there was "still room for
manoeuvre." </span>
Indeed, he predicted a change in style of
wine over the next 20 years, with perhaps a Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon
becoming closer to those wines currently being made in the Napa Valley,
California. </span>
According to another leading winemaker
Michel Rolland, "climate change has not changed the production techniques,
but it might be necessary for mental attitudes to change." </span>
"It is important that the producer
uses less water, less energy, and practice a more holistic agriculture. If we
do not meet these codes, wine quality will not improve," he said.</span>

</span>
Winemakers mull climate change at Barcelona conference
</span>Yahoo news, Sat Feb 16, 3:54 PM ET</span> </span>
<st1:City w




than grapes and vintages -- was on the agenda at a wine-makers conference in <st1:City w


as vintners mulled ways to reduce the industry's greenhouse gas emissions</span></span>. </span>
Not everyone is aware that wine production
emits large quantities of CO2, the main gas responsible for climate change</span></span>.</span>
But that problem, along the potential
impact of global warming</span></span> on the wine industry, faced
the more than 350 producers, scientists, winemakers from 36 countries who
participated in the two-day conference that ended Saturday.</span>
The experts included representatives from
some of the world's leading wine-making countries -- notably <st1



<st1






the <st1





Zealand</span></span></st1





The meeting was clouded by a series of
alarming warnings Friday, with experts saying global warming would lead to
"harder" and less aromatic wines.</span>
"The consequences of global warming
are already being felt. Harvest season already comes ten days earlier than
before in almost all wine regions," warned French expert Bernard Seguin.</span>
The congress was due to wrap up Saturday
evening with a video conference by former US vice-president Al Gore</span></span>,
who won the 2007 Nobel peace prize</span></span> for his work on climate change.</span>
Spanish producer Miguel Torres told
delegates he was pioneering "carbon capture and storage," whereby
harmful CO2
emissions</span></span> are trapped and stored underground.</span>
At the foot of the Cordilleras of the Andes
in <st1




Torres has already set up the first recovery process for the CO2 produced by
fermenting grapes, he said.</span>
"We are trying to convert CO2 into
something solid, which will remain in the ground, instead of being emitted into
the air," he said.</span>
If the <st1



project -- which Torres admits is still a small pilot experiment -- is
successful, he intends to implement a much bigger programme in <st1



government of <st1:State w


Deep underground storage of CO2 is
currently being tested in a variety of locations worldwide, from under the
seabed off the coasts of <st1



and <st1



oilfield in <st1:State w

<st1




Carbon storage was widely discussed at the
UN climate
change conference</span></span> in <st1

December and is one of the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change</span></span> (IPCC) which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with
Gore.</span>
Banrock Station Wines in <st1




another producer aiming to be a model of sustainable development.</span>
"These are the first steps, but they
are very important" said Tony Sharley, the company's scientist. "The
reforestation of areas close to the vineyards" may also help reduce the
carbon footprint, he said.</span>
But the wine companies are also having to
search out new areas for their vines in order to protect quality, as the earth</span></span>
heats up.</span>
"We move the vines to areas higher and
cooler. Vines that are planted before on the coast have moved further inland
and land toward the mountain," said Torres, pointing to a new vineyard at
the foot of the Pyrenees, near <st1:City w



Other vintners were less worried. </span>
Wine-maker Jacques Lurton told the
conference that the problems from climate change</span></span> were all
relative. </span>
In the northern hemisphere, climate change
is "not yet a problem for wine," whilst in the southern hemisphere, <st1



and <st1




for example, still have enormous potential, and "no water problems,"
he said. </span>
While admitting that some French regions,
such as <st1:City w


and <st1

their climactic limit," Lurton added there was "still room for
manoeuvre." </span>
Indeed, he predicted a change in style of
wine over the next 20 years, with perhaps a Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon
becoming closer to those wines currently being made in the Napa Valley,
California. </span>
According to another leading winemaker
Michel Rolland, "climate change has not changed the production techniques,
but it might be necessary for mental attitudes to change." </span>
"It is important that the producer
uses less water, less energy, and practice a more holistic agriculture. If we
do not meet these codes, wine quality will not improve," he said.</span>