Chile's winemakers see threat and opportunity in climate change.

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• published: 26 Nov 2015
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Winemakers in Chile concerned about future effects of climate change on grape variety and quality, while also seeing opportunities for new growing regions in the county's south. SHOWS: SAN ANTONIO, CHILE (FILE- OCTOBER 30, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) Chilean winemakers' efforts to improve their image abroad from bang-for-your-buck vinos to more premium wines are being thwarted by the effect that climate change is wreaking on the vines. Nestled between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes mountain range on the east, Chile's producers have traditionally thrived in its Mediterranean climate. But with temperatures rising and rains becoming scarcer, producers are being forced to employ new techniques, or even uproot their vineyards and move to cooler, wetter climates further south before grape quality suffers. "What we have observed over time is that the temperatures or the seasons start to change, there is an increase in temperatures, the thermal fluctuation diminishes and this means that we don't know for how many more years or how many more decades we will be able to cultivate some [grape] varieties, like some whites or some varieties of red that will probably have to stop growing here to let other varieties grow that adjust better to these climatic changes or a new temperature in the valleys," said Julio Bastias, chief enologist at Matte Vineyards, located in Casablanca Valley in central Chile. Winemaking in Chile dates back to the arrival of the first conquistadores some four and a half centuries ago. It wasn't until the early 1980s that producers like Spanish winemaker Miguel Torres introduced methods that have since lifted the industry to become the world's fourth biggest exporter, with Chilean wine now a familiar sight on supermarket shelves from China to the U.S. and Europe. But if temperatures keep rising, some winemakers fear maintaining current grape varieties and improving quality in Chile is going to become increasingly difficult. "Basically the grapevines need heat to sprout, develop their metabolism and ripen the fruit properly. What happens when there are changes in temperatures or areas begin to have an increased or decreased temperature, is that a specific variety is going to lose its characteristics - for example, principally the flavour or acidity and the phenolic groups that give us the feeling of the wine on our palates - these will be probably get altered. Maybe a wine will be too astringent or over mature. So they are notes in the organoleptic properties of the wine are going to start to affect their quality. As such, a variety that is successfully cultivated in a certain way today, probably in 50 or 100 years more, it won't be so much like that," said Bastias. Chile is best known for its signature carmenere grape, an old French variety rediscovered 20 years ago after being thought extinct, but also grows cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, merlot and chardonnay, among others. Claudia Villarroel, a meteorologist at Chile's Meteorological office, explained some of the changes in weather conditions. "It has been shown that at least in the central zone, and above all in cities that are more populated or have more buildings, there has been a change of 0.2 degrees, precisely, in the maximum temperature, above all here in Santiago, and in the minimum temperature it has been around the same range. Also, it's worth noting that it's not just this increase in average temperature but importantly, that there are changes in extreme events. For example, in the summer heat waves are becoming more frequent and more intense," she said. Almost 200 nations will meet in Paris this month to try to work out a global accord to slow climate change. But, according to climate change data from the World Bank, at least a1.5 degrees Celsius increase is more or less locked in. The situation threatens Chile's drive to improve its wines just as it was garnering recognition globally - but it is also making large swathes of new land amenable to viticulture. Philippo Pszczolkowski, a professor of agricultural science at the Catholic University in Santiago, said the changing temperatures would probably result in a shift to the south. "Chile is a country that is five thousand kilometers (3000 miles) in length from north to south. As a result we (as a country) are going to have a shift from what is cultivated today in the north down to more southern areas. For example, what used to be cultivated in the Valle del Limari, maybe they are going to cultivate a lot less and there are going to be varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, because it's going to be warmer," he said. Unlike in France or Spain, where there is little room to expand into cooler areas, Chile's longitudinal, string-bean shape allows producers to shift to the more welcoming south.