How modern winegrapes are taking over the world, and why we should all be celebrating!

 

Re: Sudden, dramatic growth in worldwide gov't support for modern (hybrid) winegrapes! 

Friends, if you thought that modern grapes ("hybrids") play just a minor role, and are not relevant to your life or to this planet's future, then you need to think again. I have never seen such an outpouring, in just the past few months, of major news from wine regions all around the world, dropping their (stupid) prohibitions against modern grapes, and suddenly embracing them as their regions' salvation for the future. (I want to say "duh," but I need to be professional.) I include many of the latest news stories about this, below.

What's the impetus for this? In many regions of the world, it is becoming impossible to grow traditional European winegrapes consistently successfully, due to climate change (higher high temps; unexpected late Spring and early Fall severe cold snaps; worsening droughts; early arrival of Fall, etc.). Sometimes the trigger is the loss of tens of thousands of vinifera grapevines, due to an extreme cold event (this has killed vinifera vines as close to us as Walla Walla), or due to Pierce's Disease (which has now entered Oregon from California, and is on its way north). The reason, in other cases, is the rising legal costs of vineyard workers injured by inorganic sprays for powdery mildew. (As I hope you know, modern grapes need no sprays here.) Further, the earlier ripening of hybrid grapes allows them to be harvested without nets and with lower risk of smoke taint if there are forest fires. In every way, it means lower costs and fewer hours of work, and less damage to the planet, to grow modern grapes.

Modern grapes, or hybrids, are crosses between Vitis vinifera and (American and/or Asian native grapes). Not gene splicing--it's just putting the pollen from one flower onto another variety's flower, as has been done for hundreds of years, to make new crosses. The result is earlier ripening, higher yields, much better disease resistance (especially to Powdery Mildew and Phylloxera), supreme cold resistance (for regions that need it), and drought resistance. It's more-sustainable (better for the planet), and it's easy to grow these grapes organically, which your wine customers will appreciate. Modern grapes are better-situated to thrive amidst climate change, and require less (or no) spraying, and less (or no) netting, and less labor to produce greater quantities of quality fruit. If you have ever enjoyed a Leon Millot wine, or Foch, Golubok, Cayuga, Baco Noir, or Marquette, or hundreds of others like them, then you have had a modern grape's wine. 

For an examination of modern grapes appropriate for our region, check out my book "Modern Grapes for the Pacific Northwest," which reflects my 25 years of worldwide research into this. Also, I've been told that Gary Gouget made a red Foch wine from the vines in the Ridgefield roundabouts, and won a major award with it. I've won repeated Silvers for my modern wines, at Seattle Wine Awards. And Stavalaura has won Gold--and I think Double Gold--for its Golubok! Ray Hall brought his Cayuga to the SWWA meeting two months ago, and it was spectacular. At Olequah, Brian made his Foch into a rose, which was always excellent. 

Here are some of the recent eye-opening articles. You have to remember that the powerful vinifera lobby had made hybrid grapes ILLEGAL in many countries around the world. So this is big, big news.

1. The EU granted its member nations the right to grow and make AVA-designated wine from hybrid grapes:

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/eu-grants-member-states-the-right-to-use-resistant-hybrid-varieties-in-appellation-wines-470864/

2. The Champagne region has approved hybrid grapes:

https://www.thirtyfifty.co.uk/wine-news-detail.asp?id=2125&title=Champagne-approves-new-hybrid-variety-Voltis

3. Bordeaux will have its first hybrid grape vintage this year:

https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2023/05/bordeaux-braces-for-its-first-hybrid-vintage

4. France, which prohibited hybrid grapes for over 100 years (to unethically protect the vinifera growers) has now allowed PIWI grapes (that's the German term for 'hybrid' or 'modern' or 'disease resistant' grapes):

https://sommelierbusiness.com/en/articles/food-wine-71/can-hybrid-grapes-be-the-future-of-wines-348.htm

5. Hybrid red winegrapes are revolutionizing the wine industry in England:

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2020/10/how-a-new-frost-resistant-grape-could-make-british-red-wine-come-of

6. Canada initially grew a lot of hybrid grapes, but then growers moved into growing vinifera, and that has been a colossal failure (due to extreme freeze events which kill the vinifera vines), so now Canada is again embracing hybrid grapes (which are far more resistant to extremely-cold winter temps--many modern varieties can survive up to -40F temps!).  

https://quench.me/drinks/the-fall-and-rise-of-hybrids-in-eastern-canada/

7. https://asopwines.com/blogs/yard-talk/hybrid-grapes-and-why-they-matter-for-the-future

8. In Colorado, an early freeze killed 90% of the vinifera vines, but hybrid vines laughed it off:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-hybrid-grapes-the-future-of-wine-180980642/

9. In California, Pierce's Disease is wiping out entire blocks of grapes, and growers are planting PD-resistant hybrid grapes, which are being enthusiastically accepted by such winery greats as Ojai and Caymus:

https://www.winemag.com/2021/04/20/hybrid-grapes-california-wine/

10. My friend Matt Niess is convincing grapegrowers in California to switch to hybrid/modern grapes. He is gaining LOTS of press about new varieties that he's testing with great success (Napa and Sonoma are really struggling with extreme heat):

https://www.winemag.com/2022/03/08/hybrid-grapes-future-of-wine/

It is very gratifying to have been part of "the Resistance" advocating for modern grapes for the past 20 years, and finally seeing some real progress. The number of you grapegrowers in our region, who are growing modern grapes, is (to my knowledge) exactly four. I'd go cry, if I had time. But two of you told me, at Brian's latest seminar, that you're planting Golubok (a hybrid from Ukraine which is 75% vinifera and 25% Vitis amurensis, the native Asian grape). That's great! So, call it SIX modern growers. I hope we can boost that soon to sixteen and then to twenty-six!

How does it sound to grow grapes with perfectly green leaves and perfect clusters all summer long, but no spray, ever? To harvest early, before the rains, EVERY YEAR, and with NO NETS? To grow grapes that yield 5 tons per acre, or 10 tons (Cayuga has even hung 20 tons per acre!), and still win major awards? (Hint: Your winery will make far more money per acre with these grapes.) And you can make good wines from these grapes, with vinifera-type flavors that you and your customers will recognize and appreciate.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. There's a world out there that needs saving. Let's go!

(photo is Cayuga grapes)