S.W AND RICH HERMANSEN
Staff Writers
wine@lbknews.com
Grape vines have evolved to tolerate dramatic variations in climate and soil. Vines that struggle to find water and nutrients produce the best of the fine wines. These grapes put down deep roots and survive droughts and heat wave. At the Mollydooker (Australian for a left-handed boxer) vineyard in the McLaren Vale region south of Adelaide, the winemaker demonstrated how they make the vines struggle. Their irrigation system rations water to the vines to keep them just short of withering and succumbing in the winter and spring heat of one of the many arid regions down under. The resulting intense flavors of concentrated plum and blackberry, paired with an alcohol percent on the high side, appeal to many as cocktail wines, forcing European to counter with claims that these hot wines overpower foods that wines should complement.
In an era of rapid changes in climate, some regions that depend on a specific feature appear to be losing it. Robert Stephenson, Fine Wine Specialist with Unfiltered, Unfined Wines, a small importer and distributor in Southwest Florida, cites the example of the Carneros Region in the southern parts of the California’s Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley at the head of San Pablo Bay. The Carneros has relied on morning fog from the Bay to shield delicate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes from the sun. Vineyards such as Shug and Domaine Carneros have specialized in the grapes that thrive in cooler climates. Their sparkling white and rosé wines, featuring Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and a brooding red Pinot Noir still wine, sell for prices in the $30 – $35 range. Whether and how long they can withstand climate change remains to be seen. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir production is increasing north and west toward Mendocino and farther north to Oregon, Washington State, and the Okanogan Valley in Canada. In Eastern Oregon and Canada a hybrid of Pinot Noir, Baco Noir, tolerates freezing temperatures better than vines from Burgundy.
The strong traditions of wine and food in Europe are increasingly conflicting with the realities of not only climate change but also the many socioeconomic, lifestyle, and population shifts that undermine traditional preferences for food and wine. The French fret over the taste of the younger members of the population for beer. Beer bars in the US stock a variety of white wines for customers concerned about putting on a few extra pounds.
No doubt the grapes will find their own way. Within the family of famous European grapes, cross-breeding produces clones of, say, Pinot Noir, Syrah, or Cabernet Sauvignon, that meet the challenges of changes in climate or consumer preferences. Though frowned upon, or often downright prohibited by the keepers of traditions in wine-making, hybrids of wines from different families of grapes have risen to overcome challenges that threatened the viability of traditional wine-making. During the late 19th Century, French noble grapes crossed with American vines produced hybrids resistant to the devastating pandemic of the root disease phylloxera in Europe. Today, some of the French hybrids are making inroads into regions that have cold snaps that would kill off the Northern European Riesling and Silvaner Eiswein vines. The Vidal Blanc grape, for instance, survives brutal winters in upstate New York and Ontario in Canada, and produces a highly competitive ice wine. We recently tasted and quickly finished a lovely 2019 Vidal Blanc dessert wine from Crow Vineyard in Kent County Maryland. As one would hope for in a dessert wine, it tasted sweeter than the dessert.
To the casual observer, the wine industry seems bound to tradition and static. When challenges arise, it does evolve quickly to counter them. When the paleontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge initiated the theory of “punctuated equilibrium” to explain long stretches of minimal evolution follow by short phases of rapid change, they were not thinking of evolution in wine. Even so, expect to see greater varieties of clones within families of grapes and hybrids across families when changes in conditions favor changes in traditions.
S. W. Hermansen has used his expertise in econometrics, data science and epidemiology to help develop research databases for the Pentagon, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Agriculture, and Health Resources and Services. He has visited premier vineyards and taste wines from major appellations in California, Oregon, New York State, and internationally from Tuscany and the Piedmont in Italy, the Ribera del Duero in Spain, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in Australia, and the Otego Valley in New Zealand. Currently he splits time between residences in Chevy Chase, Maryland and St. Armand’s Circle in Florida.
Rich Hermansen selected has first wine list for a restaurant shortly after graduating from college with a degree in Mathematics. He has extensive service and management experience in the food and wine industry. Family and friends rate him as their favorite chef, bartender, and wine steward. He lives in Severna Park, Maryland.
