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French vintners are beginning to get serious about measuring
and then reducing their greenhouse-gas emissions, experimenting with a
variety of environmentally friendly philosophies. They worry that their
grape- growing microclimates are at risk from global warming.
"We want to pull the whole Champagne community
toward better practices," said spokesman Daniel Lorson. But for some,
the goal is set too far into the future, reports Wine
Spectator. Individual producers are already examining their options
for becoming carbon neutral.
"We reduce, when it's possible, the level of emissions,
and in fact, we've worked toward this for a lot of years," said Thierry
Gasco, winemaker at Pommery, which is working to make a complete carbon
assessment and is using the internationally recognised ISO 14001 standard,for
reducing emissions at a business without harming profitability or growth.
"We educate all our workers to reduce the electric
consumption—to shut off the lights when there's nobody in an office,
or shut down the computer," says Gasco.
Pommery uses green energy, supplied by French producer
EDF. A contract makes it obligatory for the supplier to produce an identical
amount of green electricity, produced by wind turbines, for every
kilowatt consumed by this Champagne house.
Pommery is also working to reduce the number of transport
trucks it uses. "Since the beginning of this year, we started encouraging
the movements of our staff by train rather than by car," Gasco said.
"We are also studying the possibility of giving our commercial team
hybrid cars."
Charles Heidsieck, Louis Roederer, Laurent-Perrier, Piper
Heidsieck, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot are also measuring carbon output
in an effort to reduce emissions. Moët & Chandon has hired a
director of sustainable development to oversee the house's environmental
practices.
Going green for winemakers is not a small decision. The
main incentive for winemakers is to help prevent temperatures from continually
inching upward. Many winemakers believe harvest is coming earlier with
each passing year.
But many lament the amount of time, money and effort
it takes to go carbon neutral—absorbing as much carbon as they produce.
It means recycling every scrap of paper, re-using every drop of water
and counting each kilowatt of power in the winery. Some winemakers don't
believe they can afford it.
Another complaint is that switching to carbon-neutral
status does not automatically lead to a rise in sales. Consumers sometimes
choose wines that are organic or biodynamically grown, but don't look
for carbon-neutral wines.
Indian Wine Academy supports the efforts of producers
to go carbon neutral in wine production. DelWine will report any such
collective activity in any part of the world to motivate producers globally
to focus on this challenge. We also pose this question to every one we
interview for delWine (Read interview with Miguel Torres, for instance)
in order to highlight the problem-Editor
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