Lodi-area grape growers skeptical about global warming

Local wine growers don't seem too concerned about a report that global warming could seriously diminish winegrape production in the next 100 years, even though one of the report's authors spoke in Lodi last month.

"I don't believe in global warming; I believe that's a fallacy," said Bruce Fry, assistant operations manager for Mohr-Fry Ranches.

Fry cites that climate studies have been taking place for no more than 150 years, a blink of the eye compared to the age of the earth.

Mark Chandler, executive director of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission, is skeptical about global warming affecting winegrape production, although he acknowledges that the idea merits more study.

"It's based on a model," Chandler said. "The authors even admit they had some hypotheses and put in some data. They don't even know if this is going to pass."

One of the authors of the study, Greg Jones of Southern Oregon State University, spoke to the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission on June 13.

The nearly 100-year timetable cited in the study by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chandler said, allows time for scientists and agriculture experts to research more heat-tolerant vines, which could solve the possible global warming problem, at least in the production of winegrapes.

Thornton vintner Bill Stokes said Monday he hadn't heard about the possibility that global warming could hurt winegrapes. But he questions a finding in the report that sugars in winegrapes can break down when temperatures exceed 95 degrees.

Many wine-growing areas of California, except for the coastal region, produce premium grapes in temperatures higher than 95 degrees, Stokes said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

First published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006