Opinion

Turning competitors into collaborators

BY NICK BREEZE

Alentejo’s largest wine-producing area is also its most vulnerable to an increased frequency of climate extremes. Much of the area currently lies inland in an increasingly warm climate. In recent years the annual rainfall patterns have changed to become less frequent and more concentrated in downpours.

This was spotlighted by Dr Gregory V Jones and colleagues as far back as 2005 in a research paper, Climate Change & Global Grape Growing Quality, that identified southern Portugal as being one of the most vulnerable wine-producing regions in the world.

After my tour across the region I conducted interviews with a number of producers and also climate scientists with a special focus on wine. Dr Jones was one of these and he was quick to point out that the label of ‘vulnerable’ is now spread much more widely across the globe. With regard to regions such as Alentejo, the symptoms are: “Heat events during the middle of the summer are, of course, problematic. Not having enough water or, during drought periods where water becomes even more scarce, being able to hydrate the vines in any way, shape, or form…”

FEELING THE HEAT When the conditions peak in the middle of summer, temperatures of 46ºC may be sustained for a few days. In this heat, it is not just the vines that shut down. Alentejo is also famous for olive oil production and, of course, cork production.

Iain Richardson, of the historic Herdade do Mouchão estate, said the heat was weakening the cork trees, allowing insects to come in and finish them off. Having

planted 30,000 new cork oak trees and planning to plant 15,000 more, Richardson says: “The mortality rate was enormous. We had roughly 600-800 trees every year which would die. And these are lovely old oaks. It was absolutely tragic for us.”

With temperatures set to keep rising and the duration of heat spells to become longer, it is clear that traditional methods as we know them are not going to be sufficient to guarantee the widespread survival of the region.

WASP The Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP) was set up to mitigate the Alentejo’s carbon footprint, economise on water usage and drive sustainability across the region. What I learned from speaking to producers active within the programme was that WASP actually created a framework for going beyond mitigation towards an urgent need to increase climate resilience.

WASP coordinator João Barroso outlined his approach, saying: “Keeping the knowledge as power is gone. Sharing the knowledge is power. That’s the new paradigm. We had companies with a lot of knowledge and we had companies with a lack of knowledge and so what we managed to do… was to create this knowledge-sharing network.”

Different producers I spoke to all stated that this was a major benefit of being in the programme. Mafalda Vasques, winemaker at Herdade dos Grous, said: “I think the most interesting aspect of the programme was that we could be in touch and see what the others were doing and we could copy and paste to our project and see what benefit there could be for us.”

At Adega de Borba, a historic cooperative where more than 1,000 families are dependent on the survival of the business, I witnessed an incredible sustainability programme at scale. Director of production Helena Ferreira demonstrated a wide range of improvements across the business, from water recycling to incentivising growers to farm sustainably.

Regarding climate impacts she says: “One of the most important things that we have noticed with this climate change is water scarcity.” We were speaking in late December 2021 in the middle of the rainy season and so far there had not been hardly any rain. The soils were dry.

REGENERATIVE STRATEGY One of the most impressive solutions I saw being implemented was the use of regenerative techniques for viticulture. Producers like Adega de Borba, Casa Clara and Herdade de Coelheiros are using indigenous grasses and other plants as cover crops, which provides the network of pathways to capture the water from heavy downpours and store into the soils, avoiding run off and erosion. NICK BREEZE

At Adega Mayor, close to the Spanish border, I was shown that every percentile area of soil is concealed from the sun. This diligent effort ensures greater resilience against moisture evaporation from the soils which otherwise degrade into dirt.

At Adega Mayor, close to the Spanish border, I was shown that every percentile area of soil is concealed from the sun. This diligent effort ensures greater resilience against moisture evaporation from the soils which otherwise degrade into dirt.

I visited estates like Coelheiros, close to Evora, Alentejo’s ancient capital, to see the balance of biodiversity, with manager Luis Patrão pointing out how the land is regenerating towards a balanced ecosystem. He credits WASP and the knowledge-sharing network and workshops with assisting its success.

Going beyond this, Patrão says that every producer in Alentejo understands the climate issue because they are exposed to the impacts, adding: “If we don’t adapt, if we don’t take measures, we are out of business.”

WORKING WITH NATURE The benefits of regenerative agriculture were echoed when I spoke to Sonoma-born climate and wine scientist Professor Kimberly Nicholas. “A lot of focus on regenerative agriculture is on rebuilding and maintaining soil health, including organic matter and carbon in the soil, which also affects climate change,” she said. “Soil globally contains about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and the more carbon we can keep in the soil or help the soil take out of the atmosphere is directly fighting climate change.”

Alentejo has led the way in Portugal and is reaping the benefits. The regenerative approach combines the vital elements of mitigation and adaptation. With consumers now increasingly concerned about the climate and ecological emergency, and climate scientists issuing their final warning to avert catastrophe, these efforts must be exponentially scaled up.

As Dr Greg Jones says, pragmatically: “I think the best thing we can do is develop regional schemes that really work for those regions, but tie them into a broader understanding and framework at the global level.”