Wine miles
My local health food shop prides itself in selling locally grown and produced food and trumpets the need for us all to reduce food miles to save the planet. Surprisingly, perhaps, it is happy to sell wine from the other side of the world transported in heavy glass bottles. So why is no one talking about ‘wine miles’? Transporting wine from the vineyard to the consumer makes a significant contribution to the carbon footprint of the wine we drink. We can reduce bottle weights, experiment with alternative packaging and insist on ship-based transportation, but none of it avoids the truth that the liquid itself is heavy. Maybe it is time for the wine industry and consumers to face head-on how far we choose to transport wine. Can we really justify routinely transporting wine all the way around the globe? Perhaps we need to think twice about drinking wine produced on a different continent? Living in Europe, I’m not sure I could completely give up Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinotage from Stellenbosch, but I do need to be honest about the real cost of these treats. Iain Gilchrist, Bristol, UK
It’s a hot topic for wine lovers, as discussed in our ‘Rethinking your drinking’ feature by Rupert Joy, in the December 2021 issue
It is exciting news that ‘Sussex’ has been awarded PDO status. However, many producers source their grapes from various sites which can include vineyards outside the county. They will have to decide whether they wish to use the new designation but with the geographical restriction, or clearly indicate another name when non-Sussex grapes are used.
Further, the myriad soil types there means that legislators should not place too much emphasis on chalk. Sussex has noted clay and sandstone besides chalk, which adds to its interest as one of our top counties for wine.
Conal R Gregory MW, York, UK
The declaration of PDO Sussex feels premature, and potentially dangerous.
The Protected Designation of Origin system was created in Europe in 1992 to protect well-defined products with a strong regional heritage. Examples are Parmesan cheese, Gorgonzola and Champagne; identifiable products from delineated regions.
PDO Sussex covers a massive geographical area with few common features in terms of soil, aspect or anything else. The ‘cahier des charges’ (to borrow a term) permits white or rosé sparkling wines made with eight different varieties and still white, red or rosé from 24!
This is confusing for the consumer, and not good for the essentially fledgling English wine industry, which still has much to learn about terroir. David Montgomery, Surrey, UK (by way of declaring my conflict of interest)