"Peak Wine" --(yet) "They Ate Well and They Drank Well"

[villager]

an important blog post: :evilgrin:



The word “sustainable” is bandied about a lot nowadays. What will farming look like—what will living look like—after peak oil? I would like to pose another question: what will the wine industry be like after peak wine?

The time is coming when the use of our prime farm land to produce an alcoholic beverage will not be sustainable. People will always drink, and many of us will determine to drink well, but we’ve got to eat first and we must learn to manage our land appropriately. So what are we enophiles to do?

I think we can look to our predecessors for an answer. In earlier times Italian families in our Dry Creek neighborhood used the sparse hillside soils for their wine grapes; the fertile bottom ground was reserved for orchards and row crops—for food. Wine was enjoyed direct from the barrel in the basement, or from a demijohn, or from a jug. No fancy punt-bottomed bottles, no gold-foiled labels. They made red wines because whites wouldn’t hold up in our hot climate without refrigeration. Yet they ate well and they drank well.

Today we California farmers are producing vast amounts of wine, and to support that production we are marketing and shipping wine all over the country. It’s certainly a shame they can’t fuel up 16 wheelers with Cabernet Sauvignon; short of that it may become prohibitive to enjoy a California Claret in Chicago. Maybe the folks in Oshkosh can develop a taste for Muscadine? Or hard cider? Or local ale? Maybe we California grape growers should switch to eggplant? Or rutabaga? Or amaranth?

<snip>

http://lousmusings.typepad.com/lousmusings/2005/08/peak_wine.html#comment-15170799

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. My grandpa made homemade wine and beers...

His dad was a bootlegger.

I'm thinking I could follow in their footsteps and barter booze for food. I think it's an awfully good plan. :evilgrin:

[villager]

2. hell yes! You're already part of the "future economy," then!

n/t

[alfredo]

3. Come the Southern Christian overthrow of our constitution

alcoholic beverages will once again be illegal.

http://www.honeywine.com/mead/recipes/recipes.html

[CatholicEdHead]

5. That may be enough to actually turn it over

Many religious righters talk the talk but do not walk the walk. You take away the 6 packs and you take away the vast majority of the popular support and you will see a backlash against the fundies.

[alfredo]

7. Zealotry blinds people. All they see is their mission,

not the consequences of their actions? Remind you of anyone?

[Odin2005]

4. In the Ancient Mediterranian olives and grapes were grown on poorer soils.

The good land was needed for major food crops.

[villager]

6. I hear the Greeks also had an ancient system called "democracy?"

n/t

[JVS]

8. Yeah, but it didn't pan out

[villager]

10. by Jove, you're right...

n/t

[mcscajun]

9. I have a good friend who makes his own beers. Serious stuff.

I'm going to learn to make my favorite drink, an old American classic. Hard Cider.

It's a Colonial beverage and the Northeast is serious Apple Country. I can live without wine if I have to, so long as I can make Cider with a :kick:

Plus, as someone else mentioned, it's a way to become part of the future barter-based economy.

[villager]

11. no small beer, there! Let us know how it goes!

Indeed -- we will all be eating/drinking locally -- goodbye nationwide fast food sameness! -- soon enough...