Talk to a dedicated wine grower, and they’ll wax poetic about the differences in their wines, year by year. Warm summers, cool summers, dry spells, rain storms. Each colors the vintage in distinct ways. Wine expresses annual climate change with each resonant note. That’s part of its appeal.
So what about global climate change? Can we be a world leader in Pinot Noir if the grapes shrivel on the vine? Realizing the immediate impact of climate change on our wine industry, last August, Governor Kulongoski made a bold call to Oregon’s wineries and vineyards: Become “carbon neutral.”
Partnering with the Oregon Environmental Council and the Oregon Wine Board, the governor initiated the Carbon Neutral Challenge, which asks participants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while increasing energy generation toward the goal of net-zero carbon use.
Thirty wineries and vineyards have signed on and committed to making dramatic shifts in “business as usual.” Today only a handful of wineries around the world have gone carbon neutral; Oregon’s experience could influence the wine industry worldwide.
In 1980, Oregon Pinot Noir pioneer David Lett of Eyrie Vineyards shook up the wine-drinking world by placing second in an internationally-renowned competition in Paris known euphemistically as the Wine Olympics. No one imagined that Oregon could be a leading wine grower… until it happened. Our wine industry has been unfailingly audacious. We’re glad to see the tradition continue as the stakes grow higher.
[Read about what Kevin Chambers of Resonance Vineyard is doing to meet the Carbon Neutral Challenge in this Edible Portland story: The Wine Route.]
