 The venue shifts from the earlier two conferences held in 2006 and 2008 in Barcelona to Marbella, the coastal southern resort city of Spain, about 40 minutes away from Malaga Airport. The concept has been the brainchild of the Academy founder President, Pancho Campo MW, who has been so committed to the issue that he worked on it for his MW project.
The previous edition enjoyed the participation of over 350 individuals representing over 40 countries. As with earlier editions this one will also be focused on wine professionals-- oenologists, scientists, viticulturalists, importers, sommeliers and others in the wine business
‘The phenomenon of climate change upon winegrowing is affecting the majority of the wine industry and with it the need for wine producers to respond to it. It was with this premise that the congress was instituted in 2006 to offer solutions to mitigate problems in adapting to the changes in climate and to launch a more environmentally sound business model for the wine industry,’ says Campo.
During these two days the delegates will receive first-hand, timely information about the impact of climate change upon the wine business along with its fundamental relation to oenology and viticulture. Spread over several sessions the congress will also report upon critical subjects for the wine industry such as closures, alternative packaging, transportation and logistics, sparkling wines, Carbon dioxide emissions and foot prints, energy conservation, and the use of organic and biodynamic vine growing as measures for adapting to climate change.
The Academy claims to have already lined up over twenty experts from Spain, UK, USA, France, Chile and other countries to be the speakers. Some of those who have agreed to come are the greatest proponents of bio-dynamic farming - author Nicolas Joly, soil scientist Claude Bourguignon, winemaker Carlos Falcó of Marques de Griñón, Susan McCraith MW, and climatologist Greg Jones of the University of Southern Oregon.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001 jointly with the UN, Kofi Annan will deliver the special Address on “Sustainability, climate change & the corporate world” as the concluding session of the first day of the conference.
Pancho Campo MW maintains that this issue is gaining more and more importance with every vintage. ‘It was with this premise that the congress was instituted in 2006 to offer solutions to mitigate problems in adapting to the changes in climate, and to launch a more environmentally sound business model for the wine industry,’ says the conference website.
Former US vice-president –turned environmental evangelist Al Gore was the keynote speaker at the second edition of the event held in Barcelona in February 2008. Although he had agreed to come personally to address the conference he was obliged to talk to the delegates through video conferencing; he had in the meantime also won the Nobel Peace Prize in November 2007 and suddenly had too many commitments at home.
Meanwhile, delWine speculates that it would be logical to expect President Barack Obama, winner of the Peace Prize in 2009 to have his speechwriters in the White House start preparing a draft keynote address to be used in not-too-distant future! |