WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Wineries in the Walla Walla region have had to think about the impact of climate change for more than just how many grapes come off the vine.
When it comes to wine, the rising average temperatures can impact how the grapes grow and even how they taste according to Sager Small.
Small is a second-generation winery owner and vineyard manager at Woodward Canyon Winery. He said his family has noticed the heat increase’s impact on wineries throughout the region.
“Whether you want to engage with that or not. It’s kind of something that engages with you,” he said.
While there are several effects, he said the difference in what he called growing degree days has the biggest impact on the plant itself. Similar to when a plant gets too cold, he said when a plant gets too hot, above 92 degrees, it stops growing and focuses on surviving.
He said the winery industry as a whole might have to look into shifting to more heat resistant varieties.
“As the climate kind of changes, we’re going to see what varietals do better in the heat,” said Small. “Like Grenache is a good example of that, and I would definitely plant more Grenache now if we had to redo our vineyard.”
Jim Harbertson, a Professor of Enology at WSU Tri-Cities, said he works with other members of the department to research what is impacting the wine industry.
“They grow a lot of work, a little on Cabernet Sauvignon here, which is a long ripening grape, and the longer you leave the fruit out there on the vine, the more option problems that can arise during that long season,” Harbertson said.
Harbertson said wineries have been able to adapt, but when wildfire smoke blankets the region it can throw a different wrench into things.
“So it’s just been a lot of rolling with the punches that many wineries in vineyard managers up here in Washington are clearly very good at doing,” he said.
Harberston said more research needs to be done on how long grape vines can be in smoke before they’re impacted and if anything can be done to mitigate the problem of smoke taint outside of picking early.
Small said as new vineyards in the area have been taking root, they’ve been choosing areas further east in the Walla Walla Valley and a little higher up.
“If I was planning a vineyard now, I would obviously do like a climate change consideration. You’d want to plant in the place that’s going to be good for the next hundred years,” he said.
