The Finger Lakes region is home to around 150 wineries and 11,000 acres of vines, producing around 54,600 tons of grapes each year.
Despite the prominence of the wine industry in the Finger Lakes, wine growers in the region have experienced recent difficulty growing their crops. In 2014, the region lost 67 percent of its common grapevine varieties following a late spring frost. Such variable weather patterns — which are intensified by climate change — threaten local grape growers, according to Prof. Justine Vanden Heuvel, horticulture.
“Climate change is difficult for wine growers to work with,” Vanden Heuvel said. “The main problem, particularly here in the Northeast, is the climate variability. … The last 10 years of summers — sometimes they're hot, sometimes they're cool [and] sometimes we get so much rain, it's difficult to deal with. Other times it's been a drought.”
Vanden Heuvel’s climate change-related work includes integrating grazing animals into vineyards as a natural source of fertilization. According to Vanden Heuvel, data from California suggests that sheep grazing helps the soil store more carbon.
Another area that Vanden Heuvel studies is the effects of using arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a symbiotic relationship with grapevines. She said that the fungi take carbon from the grapevines and in return, make the vine more effective at acquiring nutrients and water.
Vanden Heuvel also explained how Cornell’s status as a land-grant university gives researchers the ability to more easily share their findings with wine growers through extension programs.
“We have an extension person in every single [growing] region that is dedicated to viticulture,” Hevel said. “They write newsletters, they run meetings, they go out and they help growers. They invite us when there's a problem that needs to be addressed.”
Ria D’Aversa and her husband Michael Penn operate a Finger Lakes vineyard named Ria's Wines. D’Aversa said that she takes full advantage of the extension program provided by Cornell, including by participating in the University’s research efforts.
“We participate in all of the seminars that Cornell extension puts out, and we attend their yearly conference, and we also really lean into their help,” D’Aversa said. “They're there to help you, and so if we have an issue, we can call them and have a technician come visit.”
Before operating a vineyard in New York, D’Aversa moved her vineyard from California to escape from the heat and wildfires exacerbated by climate change.
“We moved from California because of climate change,” D’Aversa said. “We moved because we wanted to get away from the wildfires and the intense heat. I left the drought and heat for a cool climate region, which is what we were looking for.”
Frédéric Robert Bouché is a fifth-generation winemaker who currently operates a winery in Ithaca called Ports of New York. He said that the Finger Lakes region is unique because it has a microclimate that is “very favorable” for growing grapes.
Bouché also said that in some specific ways, climate change has positively impacted the Finger Lakes wine region.
“We have more and more sugars in our grapes, so the season is longer and longer, and so there's more sugar, more maturity, more pigmentation, more flavor,” Bouché said. “And that has been very positive for us here, [but] extremely negative in California, where there is way too much sugar, no acidity.”
Despite the positives that climate change may bring to the Finger Lakes wine region, D’Aversa said that no area is exempt from the pressures of climate change.
“When we moved to the Finger Lakes, one thing that I learned is that no place is immune to climate change,” D’Aversa said. “We have to be resilient as growers.”
As climate changes the dynamics of wine production in the region, D’Aversa said that adaptation and flexibility are key to the future success of winemaking in the Finger Lakes region.
“I think we will battle extremes, whether it's frost and the springtime or heavy rains,” D’Aversa said. “And we just want to make sure that our vineyards are as adaptable as possible. And then I think the success in the future is very strong.”
Dalton Mullins can be reached at dmullins@cornellsun.com.
