Tasting notes: How to select the best green wine

Tips for low-carbon merrymaking

Posted by Adam Stein (Guest Contributor) at 12:15 PM on 03 Dec 2007

Read more about: food | climate

Wine line See that green line on the map? Study it closely, boozehounds. Those of you to the right of it can enjoy a nice French Bordeaux. Those to the left should be getting your Pinot from Napa.

So concludes Dr. Vino in his excellent -- and topical! -- study, "Red, White and 'Green': The Cost of Carbon in the Global Wine Trade."

The paper is nicely readable in addition to being thorough. Few details go unconsidered. Dr. Vino cares about the CO2 produced from the breakdown of sugar during the fermentation process. He mulls the land-use implications of grape production. He knows his screw caps from his corks.

All of these factors (well, not the corks) feed into a model that allows the paper's authors to compute the carbon content of different bottles of wine drunk in various points in the U.S. Some conclusions:

Transportation mode is the most important consideration. Distance matters, but not as much as how the wine is shipped. Container ships are more fuel efficient than ground shipping, which in turn is more efficient than air freight. So express shipping your bottles from boutique wineries is about the worst thing you can do.
The shipping factor results in a "green line" running roughly from Ohio to Texas. East of this line, you're better off getting your wine from Europe via container ship. West of this line, you're better off getting your wine trucked from California. You may want to consider relocating to a city on the green line to preserve your options.
As though you needed any further encouragement over the holidays, bigger bottles are more carbon friendly than smaller bottles. Much of the ship weight of wine is the glass packaging. Bigger bottles yield a more efficient wine-to-bottle ratio. Boxed wines and Tetra-Paks are even better, at least from a carbon standpoint. Another good practice is shipping wine in bulk containers and bottling it close to the point of sale.
Climate change is a serious issue for the wine industry. This should come as no surprise. Wine is an agricultural product whose quality is exquisitely sensitive to local growing conditions. Some researchers have predicted an 80 percent decline in U.S. premium wine grape production in this century due to climate change. Drought-prone Australia, one of the largest wine exporters in the world, should also be nervous.
Organic farming isn't much help. The authors are surprised by this, but they shouldn't be. Despite its other environmental benefits, organic farming doesn't help a lot on the climate change front. Transportation is still the overriding issue.

Ever the oenophile, Dr. Vino has some advice for those who don't want to give up their New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. His main recommendation is to "offset" your wine drinking by giving up other carbon-heavy vices such as bottled water or Big Macs. Works for me.

Related topic: the joys of low-carbon beer.

For story: Tasting notes: How to select the best green wine
4 Comments | Post a Comment

Wine and Climate Change

Nice find on the article, though I think the title is misleading. You offer a way to find the greenest wine, not the best green wine. If there were no distinction, wine-geeks in Chicago would not have to worry about finding, or paying for wine from Bordeaux vs Napa because there is plenty of wine from areas much closer.

If you are interested in hearing from someone who is as detailed in his approach to studying climate change and wine as Dr. Vino is with understanding wine's carbon footprint, I suggest checking out the work of Dr. Gregory Jones. You can watch his entire presentation on youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN0o1hIBGm8)

by Damien at 4:33 PM on 03 Dec 2007

By local, maybe?

Wine-making is big all over, and I'd support the locals as much as possible - especially if you like their product. The Texas Hill Country now has several dozen really good wineries, in spite of Pierce's Disease and Global Warming. The only bummer is that more many wineries, local picked grapes are supplemented by truck tankers of concentrated grape juice. As such, the "reserve" special wines would be 100% local grape, but the cheaper wines blended with California squeezings. Cheaper but less "green" I suppose, even though the wine will taste a little greener.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 4:57 PM on 03 Dec 2007

East coast wine an option too

"His main recommendation is to "offset" your wine drinking by giving up other carbon-heavy vices such as bottled water or Big Macs. Works for me."

Works for me too. I'd take a glass of red wine over a hamburger any day. Okay, I'd take mostly anything over a hamburger since I'm veggie.... but seriously, if you live on the east coast, why not buy local wine? This article makes it seem like the only options are west coast or European wines, when most east coast states do have some amount of local vinyards. The once or twice a year I do buy a bottle of wine, I buy local. The vinyards near me are affordable and fun to visit. I'm not a wine snob so I don't really know much about quality but it's good enough for me.

by amc89 at 9:33 AM on 04 Dec 2007

Making your own, too!

Making wine and beer is a wonderful hobby as well, and quite cheap may I add. Distilling is now quite the rage although considered illegal in most states. I am sure that the little bit of CO2 formed during the home brew process is trivial compared to buying the stuff overseas from a store.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 10:04 AM on 04 Dec 2007

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