Vineyards: As climate change alters the wine – Wirtschaftswoche

Change

The changing climatic conditions the wine, researchers show. With the breeding of new varieties oenologists control it. Genetic engineering is but do not play a role in Germany.

New pests and more alcohol: Climate change makes the winemakers to create equal twice. “The wine gets the sun more and more sugar,” explains Marie-Madeleine Caillet-Desmarest on Monday on the Wine World Congress in Mainz. “This also increases the alcohol content, especially in red wines from southern Europe. We consider how this can be reduced, either by filtering out sugar before fermentation or alcohol reduction afterwards. “

The oenologist from the Champagne region is a of more than 450 scientists, associations and government representatives from 46 countries, who advise on new challenges of climate change under the umbrella of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) to Friday. This is not only harmful, says the Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Peter Bleser (CDU). In northern areas could be explored with higher temperatures previously not possible facets of winemaking. “Wine is also emotion, lifestyle, cultural landscape.”

Where the Germans buy their wine

• Place 7

  gas stations, restaurants, etc

  2012 :. 5%

  2013 : 5%

  sales volumes of wine in Germany to retail outlets for the years 2012 and-2013.

• Place 6

  Traders

  2012: 7%

  2013: 7%

• 5th

  food retail (to 1500 sqm retail space)

  2012: 12%

  2013: 13%

• 2
  
  

  Place 4

  self-service department stores and consumer markets

  2012: 13%

  2013: 13%

• Place 3

• Place 2

• # 1

  discount (excluding Aldi)

  2012: 27%

  2013: 26%

• to statistics

  sales volumes of wine in Germany to retail outlets for the years 2012 and 2013.

  Source: GfK Consumer Scan

the fight against diseases and pests place the USA, Australia or France on genetic engineering. Also in the Palatinate in 1999 genetically modified vines were planted in the Palatine community Siebeldingen where the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) as Federal Research Centre for Cultivated has its headquarters. “We said goodbye for two reasons of it,” said JKI manager Reinhard Töpfer. On the one hand there are now new opportunities in traditional crossbreeding. On the other hand, transgenic plants would definitely reject the public.

So the JKI experts have just introduced a new variety, Caladis Blanc that combines multiple drug resistance : against the fungal diseases powdery and downy mildew, botrytis (mold) and black rot. “With that beautiful, sparkling, light summer wines can be produced,” says Potter. The breeding of new varieties could also be a response to rising temperatures.

pests such as the church Essigfliege, Rebzikaden and oak processionary moth benefited from higher temperatures, explains the Rhineland-Palatinate winegrowing Minister Ulrike Höfken (Green) at the congress. Genetic engineering is for them but out of the question. It relies on biological control, as with attractants. In the fight against the grape, the process will already used with such pheromones according Hoefkens on more than half of the Rhineland-Palatinate vineyards with success.

Congress visitors Latin America wonder how hot it is in Germany. Climate change is already dramatically increasing alcohol content could be identified, such as Greek wines, says the director of the Institute of Oenology at the University of Geisenheim in the Rheingau, Monika Christmann. At its Institute research microbiologist at yeasts that produce less alcohol. A reduction of 2.5 percentage points, from about 15 to 12.5 percent alcohol by volume, no difference was noticeable taste. With a greater reduction but then the question arises whether the result can not be described as wine.

In the EU, an alcohol content of at least 8, 5 percent by volume requirement for designation as wine. Found Mara Fernandes Moura from Instituto Agronomico de Campinas (IAC) in Brazil, it would have to be at least 11 percent. “Without alcohol, we do not have only juice.”