Puede ser el medio del invierno, pero Quails’ Gate Winery está trayendo el calentamiento a su viñedo con tecnología infrarroja.
La bodega de West Kelowna está probando un tubo LED de vacío infrarrojo para mantenerse sostenible durante el invierno o incluso un frio inesperado.
“Es una fuente de luz que produce más calor que luz y la idea es calentar la vid en sí misma en lugar del aire que la rodea, por encima de esa temperatura crítica de congelación,” dijo Rowan Stewart, enólogo de Quails’ Gate.
Se espera que la tecnología haga que las vides estén alrededor de 6 C más cálidas que el aire circundante, lo cual es significativo para evitar la pérdida de brotes.
“-24 C es generalmente donde verías 50 por ciento de muerte de brotes y después de eso progresa bastante rápido al 100 por ciento, entonces si calientas de -25 C a -20 C podrías salvar tu cosecha,” dijo Stewart.
Filling a vineyard with this tech can cost $10,000 to $20,000 an acre, but Stewart says it’s a one-time investment — aside from regular wear — and should pay off over time.
Stewart added, “You save that crop in one year and you’re close to paying it off, and that’s not even considering the wine that it makes.”
After two cold snaps caused catastrophic bud loss, the BC Grape Growers Association says wineries are looking at global and national approaches, but it could take time to find the right one.
“Maybe we don’t find the silver bullet now, and I’m not expecting us to find the silver bullet, I’m not expecting us to come with something in the next six months, a year, but I think what [we] need to learn to become more resilient to these climates,” said Michael Kullmann with the BC Grape Growers Association.
Kullman says wineries need to keep climate differences in mind when trying new practices.
“I think we need to be really careful about the type of technologies we bring over because we’re a unique wine-growing region. I can’t think of many wine-growing regions in the world where it would be -25 C in the winter and 45 C in the summer,” said Kullman.