Al Gore Praises Green Initiatives in the Wine Industry

At climate conference, some vintners feel industry still has a long way to go, and that consumers will demand more eco-friendly wines in the future

Jacob Gaffney

During his closing speech at last weekend’s World Meeting on Climate Change & Wine 2008, held in Barcelona, former U.S. vice president Al Gore lauded the wine industry for being at the forefront of positive changes that benefit the earth. Gore won a Nobel Prize in 2007 for his efforts to draw the world’s attention to the problem of global climate change.

Gore, who delivered his remarks via video conferencing from Nashville, Tenn., said that greener packaging for wine, which some producers have adopted, is a step in the right direction, and that vintners should continue to follow their political, ecological, ethical and economic responsibilities. Gore was also pleased that the wine industry is giving global warming attention, which is not the case with all agricultural industries. “Things we measure get more attention than the things we don’t measure. So CO2 has historically been treated as irrelevant,” Gore said in his speech, titled, “An Uncomfortable Truth.”

Ryan Opaz, owner of a fledgling Iberian wine-marketing firm called Catavino, said he was impressed that Gore’s speech was not the “standard stump speech,” but felt that some members of the wine industry still seem uninterested in the effect of global warming on vineyards. Opaz said that in the tasting area he asked a few wineries, “So what are you doing here?” to which many replied, according to Opaz, “I’m just here to pour some wine.”

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