A sunny early summer day in Dogana di Lazise (a Northern Italian town at the lake’s edge) saw sixty journalists from Europe and the USA hunched over long tables while a geologist explained the soil content and climate. Wine correspondents frowned, scribbled carefully, and wore headsets to allow a translator to interpret the notes for non-Italian speakers. Although the room looked like it was at a United Nations meeting with sanctions and treaties, the topic was the Lake Garda DOC. They cover a large area of Northern Italy, approximately 370 acres, between Lombardy & Veneto. Their wines, mostly whites, are renowned for their easy drinking quality and have become a household name in Italy and around the globe.
It is almost certain that the Lake Garda in 2022 won’t look the same as the Lake Garda in 2032. Justin Herndon, an environmental scientist, stated that as a place becomes dryer or wetter, its composition will change. This will affect how wine tastes and how grapes grow. We don’t know exactly what the climate will change or whether there will be more severe weather events. Although winegrowers can reduce the impact of climate change to some extent with chemicals and weather control, it takes a lot more intervention. Herndon stated that at some point, you will have to decide between a low-intervention approach or changing the wine’s characteristics all together.
Brian Freedman, the author of Cracked: How Climate Change is Altering Our Drinking Habits, agrees. Global warming is not only about global weirding, but it is also about global warming. Although the soil chemistry won’t be drastically altered — it took millions upon millions of years to achieve that — is that any more important than strange downpours, wildfire, or extreme heat? What will happen to the geology beneath?
Like all DOCs the success of Garda DOC depends on its ability to navigate future changes and how flexible its governing bodies are about its parameters. Freedman stated that if the rules and regulations set out in the beginning are not followed, it could cause harm to a region. It can lead to problems down the line if the parameters are very strict, such as a minimum number of plants per acre or an altitude they must reach. Freedman stated that if the parameters are set in stone, it can lead to failure. “There must be the ability for pivot.”
Garda DOC members seem to be optimistic about their future. They are focusing on what makes their region unique, as they promote regional wines. Freedman says that if the rules can’t be changed, you are setting yourself up to fail. “But what impressed me the most was how open-minded and willing they were to change and pivot, I believe that will really help them.”