This blog came THIS close to a mention in the NYer, WSJ!

This excellent New Yorker article examines the phenomenon of measuring carbon emissions. The author, Michael Spector, mentions the study on the carbon footprint of wine that I wrote with Pablo Paster. And we were THIS close to a mention! Roll the tape:

Last year, a study of the carbon cost of the global wine trade found that it is actually more “green” for New Yorkers to drink wine from Bordeaux, which is shipped by sea, than wine from California, sent by truck. That is largely because shipping wine is mostly shipping glass. The study found that “the efficiencies of shipping drive a ‘green line’ all the way to Columbus, Ohio, the point where a wine from Bordeaux and Napa has the same carbon intensity.”

It’s good the research is getting out there! The WSJ blog Environmental Capital also mentioned it here and the New York based authors were delighted to raise a glass of Bordeaux to the finding. Foreign Policy also mentioned it in passing this time around but actually did mention it before.

Anyway, if this has made you thirsty for more on the topic, check out a summary of our research findings, my op-ed in the NYT suggesting a local drink, and be sure to come to the March 18 free talk and tasting benefiting The Nature Conservancy! Hope to see you there!

9 Responses to “This blog came THIS close to a mention in the NYer, WSJ!”


  1. Hi There,

    I’ve seen a couple of articles about the carbon emissions from ocean going shipping being 3 times higher than previously thought. Have you seen this ? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/13/eaship113.xml

    Cheers


  2. We are in the process of setting up a “Carbon Free’ shipping mechanism through http://www.carbonfund.org. As far as I am aware, this will make us the first company to ship wine ‘Carbon Free’ in the U.S. I will be adding an article to my blog in the next few days that will address the issue more specifically. This is a great program that enables shippers to offset their carbon emissions by purchasing offsets through Carbon Fund.


  3. Thanks for your work, but I think you should address the new shipping CO2 revelations as soon as possible. If it really is 3x worse than previously believed, that warrants a re-calculation of your numbers, accordingly. Don’t you agree?
    Thanks!


  4. My co-author runs these kind of calculations every day so I am sure that he us up on the latest. Still, as the New Yorker article said, you don’t have to build a highway to berth a ship.


  5. btw, they could always revert to sail!!

    http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hChoVlzhW91rwuf7KKwDc46aKJvA


  6. Actually, the New Yorker article preceded the U.N. leak about the 3x worse shipping CO2 reality, so it really does warrant a re-calculation of your numbers, to be honest. Furthermore, the claim that “you don’t have to build highways to berth a ship” is a crock of bad vinegar, because the ship building industry requires heavy use of trucks and highways to move (from source to port) the steel, wood, supplies, even fabric for your romantic but completely irrelevant sailboat, a fad of whisking wine from France to Ireland in “just” four days. And only 60,000 bottles at a time? Sure it’s a start, but seriously? There are supermarket chains with that much wine on pallets in the warehouse. It’s inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Come on, Dr. V…. we have a long way to go, all fun and games aside, the shipment of heavy glass bottles via diesel barge across the Atlantic is hardly “sustainable” or laudable. We should all be open to swifter change. And given the groundbreaking news about the 3x greater impacts of oceanic freight than previously known, we need to take a deeper look at our vino’s venture from vineyard to corkage. (twistage? what is it now with these screw tops?) Sure, power plants and such need a larger kick in the pants, but every sector needs to rethink its impact.


  7. You were mentioned quite a few times at the Global Climate Change and Wine conference, though not your blog. It was funny though having them talk of Tyler and for a second I thought, “huh, wonder who he is” then me and Gabriella turned to each other and mouthed “Dr.Vino!”
    Glad to see your efforts getting talked about!


  8. From the research paper:
    “Compared to many other crops, grapes yield relatively little output per hectare. Grapes considered in this study yielded between 400 and 800 kilograms (kg) per hectare”

    800 kg = 1763 lbs = 0.88 tons per hectare
    = 0.35 tons per acre (2.5 acres per hectare).

    so the paper is saying that vineyards yield between 0.18 and 0.35 tons per acre. that’s simply false.

    typical vineyards in california yield 2-5 tons per acre, and vineyards in the central valley can yield up to 10 tons per acre.

    am i missing something here? Tyler check your numbers please.


  9. Tyler, have you had your paper peer reviewed?


winepoliticsamz

Wine Maps


Monthly Archives

Categories


Blog posts via email

@drvino on Instagram

@drvino on Twitter




winesearcher

quotes

One of the “fresh voices taking wine journalism in new and important directions.” -World of Fine Wine

“His reporting over the past six months has had seismic consequences, which is a hell of an accomplishment for a blog.” -Forbes.com

"News of such activities, reported last month on a wine blog called Dr. Vino, have captivated wine enthusiasts and triggered a fierce online debate…" The Wall Street Journal

"...well-written, well-researched, calm and, dare we use the word, sober." -Dorothy Gaiter & John Brecher, WSJ

jbf07James Beard Foundation awards

Saveur, best drinks blog, finalist 2012.

Winner, Best Wine Blog

One of the "seven best wine blogs." Food & Wine,

One of the three best wine blogs, Fast Company

See more media...

ayow150buy

Wine books on Amazon: