Wine grapes are extraordinarily delicate to climate, and the local weather disaster is threatening winemaking on a number of fronts, from the survival of the vegetation to the altering style of the wine. Gentle winters adopted by late frost can destroy a winery earlier than it ever has the possibility to bear fruit, and the wet interval that after helped nourish the rising vegetation within the first a part of the 12 months has moved to late summer season and autumn, when the grapes are virtually ripe and prone to rot. The rise in temperatures additionally impacts sugar and alcohol content material, and grapes at the moment are harvested two to 3 weeks sooner than they had been 40 years in the past.
A well-managed discipline mix could be extra adaptable each on the vine and within the bottle. A genetically numerous winery is best outfitted to take care of surprising drought and rain as a consequence of its various root system. In a contemporary single-variety winery, 1000’s of clones develop in the identical soil and circumstances, explains Christ: “Which means every plant wants the identical quantity of the identical factor from the identical a part of the soil on the similar time. Not very respectful in direction of the soil’s sources, and really susceptible.”
This strategy additionally lets winemakers tinker with the style of the ultimate product with small tweaks, like strategically balancing early- and late-ripening varieties. Within the regular course of a 12 months, one to 2 p.c of vines are broken and have to be changed, explains Christ. Whereas the identical selection can be replanted in a monocultural winery, this presents nice potential for adaptation in a discipline mix. “If I discover the sugar content material or the pH ranges are getting too excessive, I can replant that one p.c with varieties that stabilize the acidity ranges, that don’t add extra alcohol and density however give the wine freshness and magnificence,” says Christ. The label of Gemischter Satz permits for a degree of flexibility that monovarietal winemakers can solely dream of.
“I could be extra adaptable as a result of the designation doesn’t specify a grape selection, so I’ve extra to juggle with. It’s a bonus when it comes to cultivation and robustness, but it surely additionally lets me react higher to client tendencies,” says Friedberger. It additionally permits winemakers to introduce new fungus-resistant grape varieties, an strategy that Friedberger is especially focused on. Within the final mixing of custom and innovation, one in all his Gemischter Satz vineyards is planted within the previous Stockkultur fashion, every vine supported by its personal stake relatively than a trellis, utilizing solely new fungus-resistant varieties.
Regardless of their adaptive potential, discipline blends are unlikely to turn into the norm once more. First there may be the query of scale — interplanted vineyards are optimized for resilience and style, not yield. Additionally it is unlikely that customers, used to single-variety wines and cuvées, will instantly all begin consuming discipline blends, factors out Dr. Michaela Giesser from the Institute of Viticulture and Pomology at BOKU College (the College of Pure Sources and Life Sciences, Vienna). “I believe discipline blends will stay a distinct segment product in particular areas which have this custom,” she says. Whereas the flexibility to stability out alcohol and sugar regardless of rising temperatures is an enormous profit distinctive to discipline blends, she stresses that different adaptation methods, like altering row orientation and utilizing cowl crops to guard the soil, could be equally efficient in single-variety vineyards.
Nonetheless, winemakers from all around the world come to Vienna to study discipline blends. Usually, they’re very skeptical, says Christ. “Individuals have turn into so monocultural of their considering, all the dialogue is targeted on grape varieties,” he notes. “It’s vital to place this considering apart. For me, Gemischter Satz is like coaching for the agriculture of the long run: very pure, very resource-conserving, very self-regulated, with out us having to continuously intervene.”
