New Bordeaux Varietals: Preparing for Climate Change

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At the 2022 Commanderie de Bordeaux Educateurs’ Forum, David Valdez (Educateur, Los Angeles) presented six new experimental varieties approved for Bordeaux in 2021 by the INAO. These grapes were selected after testing 52 varieties, in order to address ongoing threats to viticulture and viniculture posed by climate change: red grapes Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan, and Touriga Nacional; and white grapes Alvarinho (Albarino) and Liliorila. Concomitant with his discussion of the characteristics, origins and distributions of each varietal (e.g. Marselan from Uruguay resulted from a 1961 cross between grenache and cabernet sauvignon, and contributes aroma and color), there was a tasting of five commercially-available wines made from these grapes, and a second-round tasting of homemade blends (75% merlot and 25% test grapes). In Bordeaux, the new plantings will undergo a ten-year period of observation before being finally accepted or rejected. They will comprise no more than 5% of total production and 10% of any blend. Why make these changes? Valdez reminds us that producing fine wine requires an optimal temperature range during the growing season, and a long maturation period providing a gentle transition from summer to fall. In many wine regions of the world, climate change has already made previously ideal locations less hospitable to the more sensitive grape varieties, requiring either relocation to another terroir or replanting with varieties which have longer maturation periods and greater drought and pest resistance, as well as versatility in blending. In other words, in a region such as Bordeaux, where weakening of the gulf stream has changed local temperatures, rising sea level has increased salinity of the ground water and flooded low-lying areas, where post-budding frost, severe heat waves and wildfires have become more common occurrences, resilience and the willingness to adjust are all-important. The goal, says Valdez, is to establish a process for these adjustments, which may not be easily done in such a tradition-bound and conservative wine region.
Tasting suggestions: Albarino from Spain is widely available, as are dry Portuguese table wines made from Touriga Nacional. The other grapes may require a more diligent search.
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