Understanding how climate change might affect our region
specifically is critical to the future of the Napa Valley wine industry, which
generates $50 billion for the U.S. economy and more than 300,000 jobs in our
country. So the NVV decided in 2006 to form a Climate Change Task Force to
better understand the issue. The task force was led by Dr. Dan Cayan and his
renowned team of climate scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at
UC San Diego.
Working with vintners, growers and weather stations around Napa Valley, the Scripps science team collected data from 12,000 points in Napa Valley and from this massive collection of grass-roots data, assembled its final report: "Climate and Phenology in Napa Valley: A Compilation and Analysis of Historical Data" by Dan Cayan, Kimberly Nicholas, Mary Tyree and Michael Dettinger.
The report, released in February 2011, indicates that Napa Valley has warmed slightly over recent decades, but not to the degree that has been reported in the studies noted above, which analyze broader California weather station data. According to the Napa Valley-specific data analyzed for our report, the warming we have experienced, one to two degrees Fahrenheit, has taken place primarily in overnight temperatures between the months of January to August. In fact, Napa Valley has actually experienced cooler daytime temperatures and increased marine fog influence during the summer growing season in recent years.
Working with vintners, growers and weather stations around Napa Valley, the Scripps science team collected data from 12,000 points in Napa Valley and from this massive collection of grass-roots data, assembled its final report: "Climate and Phenology in Napa Valley: A Compilation and Analysis of Historical Data" by Dan Cayan, Kimberly Nicholas, Mary Tyree and Michael Dettinger.
The report, released in February 2011, indicates that Napa Valley has warmed slightly over recent decades, but not to the degree that has been reported in the studies noted above, which analyze broader California weather station data. According to the Napa Valley-specific data analyzed for our report, the warming we have experienced, one to two degrees Fahrenheit, has taken place primarily in overnight temperatures between the months of January to August. In fact, Napa Valley has actually experienced cooler daytime temperatures and increased marine fog influence during the summer growing season in recent years.
Although part of the greater California wine industry, Napa Valley is a unique
place and is best understood by looking at appellation-specific data. Climate
change can and will affect all fine wine-growing regions worldwide, but the
results will not necessarily be a blanket effect, as climate change is not a
"one size fits all" phenomenon. This is a very long-term issue which
vintners and growers around the world need to pay attention to and be directly
involved with. At the end of the day, vintners and grape growers are farmers.
As no two harvests are the same, farmers must successfully adapt, harvest to
harvest, season to season, year to year and have done so for nearly two
centuries in the Napa Valley, and for many thousands of years worldwide. For
the farmer, change is not only inevitable; it is a way of life.
Patsy McGaughy
Communications Director
Napa Valley Vintners
Communications Director
Napa Valley Vintners
No comments:
Post a Comment