Dr Vino's wine blog

An MIT professor whose research focuses on energy and the environment is currently teaching Masters students in Sustainability Science at the University of Tokyo. He contacted my co-author and me about our research into the carbon footprint of wine since he wanted to assign his students the same task but tracking three bottles of wine to Tokyo instead of to Chicago, as we had done.

They tracked three hypothetical bottles from California, Australia and France and varied the mode of transport, with California going by air and the other two using shipping. Their results mirrored ours showing that the mode of transportation matters and that the mass of packaging also plays a role. Several students proposed that wine be shipped in bulk and bottled at the point of sale or consumption. He also added this detail:

The class discussion was concluded with an experimental component in which the students had the opportunity to sample a Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon (2005), Muscadet de Sevre and Maine (Loire, 2006), and a Ravenswood Zinfandel (2005, actually Sonoma + Mendocino but that is close enough to Napa). They agreed that (1) this made the assignment more interesting and (2) there are factors other than carbon emissions that should be taken into account when choosing wines.

I’m glad they enjoyed the research!

On a related note, the NYT ran a graphic with some of our findings in the excellent recent article, “Movable Feast Carries a Pollution Price Tag,” by Elisabeth Rosenthal.

“I have too much Styrofoam.” That was the “problem” that a wine writer confessed to while introducing himself at a recent wine writers conference.

There comes a point in the wine lovers’ evolution where getting wine from the local store just won’t suffice. We want a certain bottle, sometimes from the winery or sometimes from a store that offers a better price. So we have the wine sent by UPS or FedEx.

Of the boxes I receive, about half are filled with Styrofoam and about half with cardboard inserts to protect the bottles during transportation. In honor of Earth Day, which is the “greener” material?

My collaborator Pablo Paster calls it “a philosophical choice.” That’s because Styrofoam is much lighter than cardboard thus the box emits fewer greenhouse gases during transportation (though its manufacture emits 8.6 times the equivalent amount of cardboard says Pablo). Even though it can be recycled, it rarely is; new polystyrene is so cheap to manufacture. Thus it ends up in landfills where it takes up a lot of space and needs hundreds of years to break down. Cardboard can be recycled more readily. Both can be reused but probably aren’t reused more than once or twice.

Since I’ve expressed my opinions about the dreaded Styrofoam before, I’ll put the question to you: Which packaging material do you prefer, cardboard, with higher GHG transport emissions today, or Styrofoam, which doesn’t biodegrade?

A new wine made from certified organic Malbec grapes will soon be available in the United States. But instead of a bottle, the wine will use lightweight packaging known as TetraPak, traditionally associated with juice boxes, in the name of lowering its carbon footprint.

Matthew Cain, regional sales director for fine wine importer Kermit Lynch for nine years, will be importing the wine through his new company, J. Soif. “Over a period of time I came to the realization that the wine business just doesn’t work,” he told me in a telephone interview last week. “Eighty percent of wine is drunk within a week. It doesn’t make sense to put nine liters of wine in a 40 pound box and ship it thousands of miles.” Read more…

Site reader Conrad sent in this picture of the Belem under full sail. As you may recall, the three-masted barque (schooner?) built in 1896 has been enlisted to transport wine from Languedoc to Ireland with a zero carbon footprint.

Sail.ie recaps the story and has the excellent picture. As a green enthusiast, I think it’s a cute, if somewhat headline grabbing effort (barque worse than their bite?). But as a wine enthusiast, whoa, if the boat’s a rockin’…

In an effort to solve two of wine’s largest problems, the food pairing conundrum and the carbon footprint, Franzia has today announced the ideal solution: wine in an edible box.

The box is made from lightweight materials, which reduce the carbon dioxide emissions during transportation. But the packaging materials are also edible since they are made from a corn-based corrugated cardboard with a soy-based plastic bag on the inside. The wine brand is called Food n Wine Box.

“We wanted to do more than have a low carbon footprint,” said Anthony J. Franzia, Senior Vice President of Product Development, in a press release. “We wanted to have zero need for recycling the box and bag. With the packaging of Food n Wine Box, whoever squeezes off the last glass has the first dibs on digging into the delectable box.”

The boxes of the wine are available in different flavors. Robust Red has a hint of BBQ sauce embedded in its molecules. The Summer Sippin’ White has notes of grapefruit.

Chef Homaro Cantu was a consultant in the product design.

For more details, click here.

About 150 people attended The Nature Conservancy talk and tasting on Tuesday night–it was great to meet so many site readers! Dominique Bachelet of TNC, Scott Pactor of Appellation Wine & Spirits, and I started off a discussion about climate change and wine that then spilled into a Q&A. We all then tasted four “natural” wines provided Michael Skurnik. Although I didn’t select them, I did enjoy the wines: the Hofer Gruner Veltliner in the carbon-efficient one-liter bottle (find this wine), Mittnach pinot blanc from Alsace (find this wine), Domain de Gourgonnier’s biodynamic red from Provence (find this wine), Amber Knolls/Beckstoffer 1975 that I have seen everywhere and had no idea that the grapes are organically grown (find this wine).

Since I love maps, I added more color to the “green line” map for my slide show using Googlemaps. Although I presented it on Tuesday evening, it still has that new map smell. Check it out here.

Anyway, not much more to report here since you, no doubt, are familiar with my joint research on the carbon footprint of wine. Cruise on over to The Nature Conservancy web site and check them out if you’re not familiar with them. They’re doing good things.

SIPPED: French wine sales
Sales of French wine rose seven percent in 2007. Is the 2003 Iraq-induced hangover finally over? [IHT]

SIPPED: French wine sails
Belem, a three-masted barque first launched in 1896, will begin transporting 60,000 bottles of wine by sail from the Languedoc to the British Isles in an effort to reduce wine’s carbon footprint. Will gerbils power the refrigerated containers? [AFP]

SIPPED and SPIT: climate change and wine
A big shindig in Barcelona attracted some cult winemakers to discuss global warming and wine; although Al Gore could only make an appearance via satellite, wine bloggers Alice Feiring and Catavino were on the scene.

SPIT for SIPPING: Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman caused an uproar because she mighta, coulda had a glass of wine during the Oscars last Sunday. Unlike Gisele who caused a stir by sipping wine at the Super Bowl, the big deal with Keith Urban’s wife was not the wine selection itself; rather, she is pregnant. Kidman’s agent has defended her client, denied the allegation, and called the accuser an “idiot.”

Related:
-”Knocked up: expecting moms and defying expectations”
- All abord the Tesco barge
(image)

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!

Are you interested in climate change and wine? How about a free tasting of natural and organic wines? Then you need to put March 18 at 7 PM on your calendar and come to West 26th St.

I’ll be joining a panel to benefit The Nature Conservancy. Dominique Bachelet, director of climate change science at The Nature Conservancy, and Scott Pactor, owner of Appellation Wine & Spirits, and I will be on the panel. The wines will be provided courtesy of the excellent importer/distributor Michael Skurnik.

Even though the event is free and open to the public, you’ll need to register because space is limited. I hope to see many of you there!

“Message in a Barrel: Drinking Wine in a Changing Climate.” Details and registration.

In other Dr. Vino green news, there are still a few spaces left in my afternoon seminar at UC Berkeley (but held in their SF SoMa location) on Saturday, February 23. “Red, white and green wine: can you taste the difference?” Image: istockphoto.