Dr Richard Smart. International Wine Challenge YouTube

Dr Richard Smart, one of the world’s most distinguished viticulturists and the recipient of 15 awards for services to viticulture, including four from New Zealand, recently sent me a provocative and very timely document headed “Are wineries environmental vandals?” I responded with the following five questions.

Bob Campbell MW: You pose the question “Are wineries environmental vandals?” The answer must be “yes” because they, in your words, “treat the atmosphere as a sewer for CO2.” But isn’t the wine industry a small potato polluter next to, say, farting cows or brewing beer?

Richard Smart: I question the environmental credibility of wineries because they happily release great volumes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during winemaking. Previously they released untreated winery wastewater until this has been stopped by environmental regulation. When might they be regulated for atmospheric pollution?

I do not have information at hand to comment on potato size, farting cows and brewing beer. What I can say is that fermentation of grapes juice in winemaking produces carbon dioxide in one of the most pure forms known in industry (more than 90% CO2). The concentration of carbon dioxide emitted from coal-fired power plants and automobile exhaust is much more dilute, making it difficult to capture and conserve.

Yes, the grape and wine-producing sector is a small player compared to all of society’s activities in the problem of rising atmospheric CO2 levels. But does that mean that they have no responsibility to reduce emissions where they can. I doubt it.

BC: I was interested to learn from your paper that CO2 emissions from fermentation can be captured and cleaned before being reused, saved as bicarbonate of soda and/or sold. Any idea of the cost to install and run such a machine in, say, a 500-tonne winery?

RS: Google recently found for me three companies with commercial solutions to fermentation- CO2 polluting the atmosphere, all were in Europe. They can answer your question. Two companies using the technology are leading Bordeaux chateaux, Smith Lafitte and Montrose.

Undoubtedly Europe leads the New World in environmental concern about grape and wine production. So much for the much-touted New World technological superiority.

Here is a question for you Bob. What will be the cost of ongoing climate change if we fail to halt increasing levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases?

BC: You reveal that winemaking only contributes 17% to wine’s carbon footprint and that glass production transport and bottling of bulk wine in its destination make up the bulk of the footprint. You describe bottles as “environmentally undesirable” but what are the alternatives? Surely not bag-in-the-box?

RS: Let us face it Bob. There are three dinosaurs in the wine industry, barrels (for transport), corks for closures, and, yet to go extinct are 750 ml wine bottles. (Someone in the audience when I was presenting this idea said there are four dinosaurs, and that I was the fourth. No respect for age).

Wine bottles being round and tapered are difficult to package, can weigh as much as their contents, and are CO2/energy expensive to manufacture, transport and recycle. Alternatives like 1L cardboard tetrapacks and cans are available now, and why not for cheaper wine. Other packages will follow. Bring back decanters for the dining table I say.

Take a walk around a large grocery supermarket to see the range of containers available for liquids, all better options than glass. Why does the wine and liquor section contain so much carbon-intensive and environmentally damaging packaging? Because the manufacturers do not care about the environment. Shame on them.

BC: Viticulture contributes an estimated 15% to wine’s carbon footprint a figure that might be reduced by “use of biofuels, improved irrigation efficiency and electricity savings, and reductions in agricultural chemical use,” all of which are already being encouraged through sustainable viticulture. You mention that combustion of pomace, stalks and prunings could generate electricity. Is that already being practiced in other wine-producing countries?

RS: Yes, including New Zealand. Yealands in Marlborough use baled prunings for heating maybe electricity, though smaller air-dried bales would work better. There are many examples in Europe, ask Google, of using prunings, bunch stalks, and pomace. Biomass conversion to biochar is a form of carbon sequestration favoured by some, and can be a useful sandy soil ameliorant.

BC: You conclude with a question: “How long before an environmentally sensitive wine consumer is able to purchase a cardboard package of wine bearing the label ‘During the fermentation of this wine no carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere.’ What’s your guess?

RS: My answer is in two parts, firstly concerning the role of environmentally-aware wine consumers. One hears little of them now. As they realise what carbon vandalism is being now committed by wineries, their voice may be heard more. Within society, there is growing recognition that climate mitigation is everyone’s responsibility, and this sentiment is sure to increase and to reflect in purchase decisions.

For now, I know of no wine product being labelled as I describe. But it is only a matter of time. My guess is the first such label will not be in English, but Spanish. And my guess is the Familia Torres will be among the first. To understand just how much one company can achieve, go to Miguel Torres contribution in Session 1 at the Porto Solutions for the Wine Industry Conference on the climatechange-porto.com website.

I wonder Bob if any of your readers are in wine company management and how they are reacting to this message? Any Australasian wine companies to challenge Greta Thunberg?