by Mary Adams, AWC The Hague and Human Rights Co-Chair
During the 2024 FAWCO Interim Meeting in Porto, Portugal, I enjoyed a tour of the Douro Valley. I learned that Portugal is the fourth largest grape-producing country in the world and the ninth largest wine producer. I was dazzled by the natural beauty and wine culture in the valley. I learned that the vineyard landscape consists of traditional walled terraces recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, modern terraced platforms carved into the mountains, and vertical vine planting. From the boat tour on the Douro River, I sipped a glass of green wine and enjoyed the scenery as we sailed past vineyards, dams and bridges. Throughout the conference, I enjoyed port tastings, Portuguese wines, and a new cocktail I dubbed the “PT” (white port and tonic). I wasn’t really thinking about the environment, except for the upcoming Global Teams workshops on the FAWCO agenda.
What nobody told me about is the extremely vulnerable position of the Portuguese wine industry based on the impact of climate change. In 2017, severe heat created wildfires. In May 2018, the Douro DOC region received their entire anticipated rainfall for the month in one hour. Later that year, the Alentejo region had five consecutive days of temperatures above 104 degrees Farenheit, resulting in heat burn leading to grape losses of 50% in some areas.1 Dams built along the Douro River have transformed the river into a series of lakes, which means that the river is often depleted upstream during droughts. Unfortunately, this also concentrates pollutants, including herbicide run off from the platform terraces.
Taylor Fladgate, founded in 1692, is one of the oldest of the founding port wine houses. When I bought my tickets to tour the cellars, I didn’t know any of the above information as I walked among the giant barrels of wine gracefully aging. It was there that I spotted some interesting posters. In 2018, Taylor Fladgate hosted a Climate Change Leadership Summit that included a panel of expert speakers such as Mohan Munasinghe, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 with Al Gore, former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, Juan Verde, an internationally renowned strategist focusing on sustainable economic development, and Barack Obama. This event launched the Porto Protocol,2 which is an empowerment movement in the wine industry to share practical knowledge that mitigates climate change and promotes sustainability. Their mission is to drive collaborative action by bringing together a network of changemakers and workable climate solutions for and within the wine world.
Today, the Porto Protocol is an open forum and dynamic platform of climate solutions for the wine industry. It has more than 250 members spread across 20 countries on five continents and encompasses the entire wine value chain. The Protocol has succeeded in developing a collaborative framework where companies can pioneer and share new solutions using technology, biodiversity, experimenting with “land mosaic promotion” to protect nature surrounding vineyards, and exploring cooler wine-growing regions. Sustainable practices already in place include:
- Creation of a sustainable viticulture model
- Total elimination of residual herbicides in vineyard weed control
- No use of water for vineyard irrigation
Now, consider that the wine industry isn’t just a bottle of wine. Think of the supply chain: producers who grew the grapes and bottled the wine, online retailers, distributors, warehouses, logistics companies, wine trade bodies, wineries and visitors' centers, associations and cork producers. Did you know that the most “polluting” part of wine is the bottle? Despite what many people think, glass recycling is neither carbon neutral nor totally effective in combating the scarcity of raw materials. Read more about the carbon footprint3, cleaning, and reduction of water consumption in the Sustainable Vineyard Model.4
After the audio tour, I sat in the Taylor Fladgate gardens enjoying a port tasting. The sun was shining, the garden was green and blooming with pink flowers. Peacocks majestically strutted under the blue sky. On the surface, one would never know the innovation and ingenuity that the Portuguese have demonstrated to keep their port business thriving.
Perhaps FAWCO didn’t realize what an environmental lesson they presented to me when they selected Porto as the conference site. I remember the years when a screw top meant cheap wine. Now it means environmentally conscious. I still turn up my nose at wine in a box (how gauche!). However now that I understand that glass bottle production accounts for approximately 46% of gas emissions in the life cycle of wine production, I may consider boxed wines.5
Salúde!
Footnotes:
1Portugal’s Vintners on the Forefront of Climate Change | SevenFifty Daily
2About Us – The Porto Protocol
3What is the Carbon Footprint of the Wine Industry?
4Sustainable Practices – Taylor's Port
510 Boxed Wines That Are Really Good, Seriously
Photos by the author, reprinted with permission
