WBWE 2020: How Eastern Europe is taking a lead on climate change
By Richard Siddle
It’s not just the wines of the leading East European countries that leading buyers are increasingly interested in, it’s the steps they are also taking to tackle climate change and take the lead on sustainability that is attracting more retailers and importers to take their wines seriously.
For if they are prepared to put in the hard yards and the investment to look after the soils and better understand their terroir, then it can only be good news for the quality of their wines too.
The steps being taken to tackle and promote sustainability was one of the key conferences at last month’s World Bulk Wine Exhibition in Amsterdam as leading figures from Moldova, Hungary and Bulgaria shared insights on some of the steps being taken in their respective countries.
Perhaps the most advanced is Moldova where there is a real commitment from the government to make its vineyards and wineries as sustainable as possible if it is to achieve its goal of becoming a major wine producing force around the world.
That’s the goal that Andrian Digolean of Moldova’s National Bureau of Vine and Wine set out at WBWE. Yes, up to 70% of its production might still be targeted at the bulk wine sector, there is an increasing focus on producing quality, premium, sustainable wine as well, he said.
Local is best
It is, for example, investing a great deal in looking at how different grape varieties, including its indigenous grapes, cope in different climates. Wines of Moldova have set up six experimental plots in each of its three main wine regions to see how different grapes ripen, and how they use water and respond to temperature changes, humidity and winds.
Digolean told the WBWE conference that it had seen big changes in terms of abv levels, which had increased for some varieties from 13-15% over the last three years, as well as changes in acidity of up to 25-30%. The key was to determine which varieties can deal with all these changes to still make good quality, fresh wines for its export markets.
Which means encouraging producers to plant more climate resistant varieties and, in time, looking to plant more vines in the cooler, more northern parts of the country.
“We are seeing more producers doing this,” said Digolean, and the number of hectares dedicated to resistant varieties is now closer to a 1000 hectares compared to 100 a few years ago.
This long term view is not shared by all countries in Eastern Europe, said Maria Karakanova of Bacchus wine magazine in Bulgaria. “Our government is not committed to tackling climate change. Our ministers have questioned whether there is a problem to be looked at,” she said.
But that has not stopped its producers from taking actions themselves, she added. For it is they who can see the impact for themselves, particularly not that harvests are starting much earlier in August. “It’s the same in northern Macedonia and is the first sign of change,” she added. “Our spring is also coming earlier, which is having an impact on the percentage of sugar in the vines, which, in turn are seeing alcohol levels going up as the grapes have less time to mature and ripen.”
It’s why there is also a bigger focus on planting and promoting more of Bulgaria’s local grape varieties as they are “adapting very well to the changes, compared to the to international ones,” said Karakanova. “In southern Bulgaria it’s likely that Merlot will disappear altogether as it will just not be suitable to grow over the next 15 to 20 years.”
Positive steps
Agnes Nemeth, a wine writer from Hungary, said she had also done a lot of researched into the steps that winemakers are taking to respond to the big changes in climate.
She explained: “The weather is so much more unexpected now, so much more volatile weather, with many storms and a lot of hail in our growing period.”
It is, though, having potentially a positive impact on the kind of grapes that are now more suitable to Hungary’s changing weather. Many of the Bordeaux varieties, for example, that have struggled to ripen well in the past are now doing so, to create more elegant styles.
“We are seeing more grapes being planted in the north of the country and on our mountain slopes. This is a big change as previously the majority of wines always came from the south. But thanks to better viticultural techniques, like canopy management, we can leave the grapes longer on the vine to ripen, as we can get enough shade for the fruit to handle the heat.”
It means Hungary is slowly seeing a wider range of varieties being planted to greater successes. Like Petit Verdot. “It ripens now much more in our heat of the summer.”
Nemeth estimates there are at least 60 different varieties being grown in Hungary. “So there is a lot to analyse and research. Our most famous is probably Nero which is being used more to help make rosé, and produces a huge quantity of antioxidants. We expect to see more of these resistant varieties being planted and used in the future.”
It’s a similar situation in Moldova, confirmed Digolean. Both in terms of the type of varieties being used, but where they are being planted. “We are also seeing less new plantings in the south, with a move to more north facing vineyards where there is more shade and to cooler areas.” He also expects to see the current number of three organic wine producers increase hugely in the coming years as not only is it a more sustainable way to grow grapes, there is more demand from international buyers for those wines. “We will see more companies doing this,” he said.
Digolean said there was now closer to 1,000 hectares planted to more climate resistant vines than say 100 hectares around four years ago.
Karakonva said Bulgaria was seeing more white varieties being planted in more northern regions. But then there are also though who are taking the pragmatic view and moving into other areas such as olive trees in case winemaking becomes less possible in the future.
Nemeth said the fact there are more organic vineyards in Hungary is a good illustration of the “increase in vineyard management” in the country. “We are seeing far greater use of technology, and tools to help analyse, collate data and model where best it is to plant vines, which, in turn, is helping more wineries go organic which is a good example to others to follow.”
It’s that step by step, test and trial approach that producers are taking across Eastern Europe that is so refreshing to see. An approach that is not only helping producers plant the most suitable wines, but make the best quality wine as a result.