Rising To Meet The Agricultural Challenges Posed By Climate Change

Timothy Gural, United States Area Manager – Spirits, Juan Torres Master Distillers

There has been much conversation occurring over the past 20 years about how climate change affects our way of life now and threatens the way we live in the future. It affects the weather patterns with increased incidences of major weather events hurricanes, tornadoes, torrential rains, drought, tsunamis, and wildfires. This can change our landscapes with glacial melt and seawater rise, eroding and rising coastlines, water shortages and desertification, deforestation, and more.

It affects our health through diseases that cannot live in certain temperatures, being able to survive or be more destructive in rising temperatures, or through the effects of food and water shortages that may result. This has caused the public to support initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint by driving electric or hybrid vehicles, getting smart thermostats, and solar panels, and supporting products that are local, sustainable, and environmentally responsible.

Food and Beverage companies have responded by creating messaging and packaging that speaks to sustainability such as carbon footprint goals, locally grown and fair-trade products, and giving back to charitable partners that support these causes. Some decisions are made because it sells merchandise while others because it increases profitability. Few people think about the possibility of what they will do if the climate crisis continues to worsen.

I am fortunate to work for Juan Torres Master Distillers in the United States, the spirits division of our parent company Miguel Torres, SA. We are a fifth-generation wine & spirits company based in the Catalonia region of Spain outside of Barcelona that believes in environmental, social, and financial sustainability. In 2008, the company established the Torres & Earth program with a goal to decrease carbon emissions by 60% by 2030 and have net zero emissions by 2040. In 2019, Miguel A. Torres co-founded International Wineries for Climate Action with Katie Jackson of the Jackson Family with the goal of getting wineries to commit goals to reducing their carbon emissions. They currently have 45 unique wineries and wine companies, from prestigious properties to large-volume producers. In 2021, the Regenerative Viticultural Alliance was formed. Actions at our properties include solar panels, electric vehicles, rainwater capture, water treatment plants, carbon capture, biomass boilers, reforestation, animal grazing, and much more.

"Some decisions are made because it sells merchandise while others because it increases profitability"

Torres Brandy is hosting their second edition of the Torres Brandy Zero Challenge, which is a first-of-its-kind competition that awards the most sustainable cocktail bar project. It calls on Bar Managers and Bartenders around the world to submit their sustainable bar initiatives to promote a new mindset in mixology that prioritizes the environment.

These actions are all ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. Other steps taken were to adapt to climate change.

Simple methods such as planting vineyards at higher altitudes or moving vineyards further north to cooler climates were taken over the past 20 years. The most progressive approach was taken by the family in 1983 when they saw grapes ripening with higher alcohol and sugar content as well as lower acidity, which caused accelerated aging due to higher temperatures. Ads were placed in local newspapers asking anyone who had unfamiliar grape vines growing on their properties or in their vineyards to let them test to find lost grape varietals. Many indigenous varietals were thought to be lost and were replaced after the phylloxera insect plague in the late 1800s. Coming out of this period, winemakers began to plant varietals best suited for the climate of that era or more commercially popular grapes.

The resulting responses from the ads all over Catalonia were many, and they tested anything as small as a single plant by sending it to a database at the University of Montpellier in France.

64 varieties have been rediscovered through this project so far, with 6 actively being used in winemaking. It took, on average, 14 years for rediscovered varietals to be ready for commercial use. The 6 varietals being actively used are Forcada, Pirene, Gonfaus, Moneu, Querol, and Selma.

Earlier this year, we launched a new brand, Casals Mediterranean Vermouth, which contains the ancestral Selma varietal in its blend. This “rojo” vermouth is made with 30% of the blend aged 3 years in 600-liter oak casks and 70% fresh juice. There are 20 local botanicals including olive leaf, orange & tangerine peel, cinnamon, thyme, rosemary, etc. that are separately pressed and macerated for 3 months. No artificial colors or sweeteners are added. We have revived an old family recipe and used an ancestral varietal to tell a very old story in a new way.

We all have responsibilities to combat climate change as companies and as consumers. We in the food & beverage industry have already begun to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint today. What else can we do to adapt what we are doing today that will combat the predicted effects of the climate crisis in the future?