1. Winemakers Rising to Climate Challenge
The New York Times November 16, 2011
BORDEAUX — The winegrowers of France’s famed Champagne region have been studying climate change and its impact on their grapes for the last quarter-century.
With worldwide temperatures on the rise, they and their researchers have noted major changes in their vineyards, including an increased sugar content in the grapes from which they make their wine, with a consequent decrease in acidity, and a harvest time that regularly comes two weeks earlier than it once did.
Global warming is nothing but good news for Arnaud Descôtes, environmental manager for the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the body that oversees Champagne.
“We are seeing an increase in frequency of great vintages,” he said. “Now that it’s warmer, we are making better wines.” He noted that the top-rated vintages of 1947, 1959, 1964, 1973, 1982 and 1999 were all warm years.
Pancho Campo, president of La Academia del Vino de España and founder of the current World Congress on Climate Change and Wine, has studied 28 of the world’s major viticultural regions using data reaching back to 1925. His conclusion is that climate change brings both positive and negative effects.
While the outlook for Champagne appears to be fairly rosy, the region’s winegrowers are nevertheless drawing up contingency plans “to reduce and minimize any climate impacts on our wines” through the year 2100, said Mr. Descôtes, a viticulture and oenology expert.
2. Early Hours Yield a Promising Start
The Wall Street Journal NOVEMBER 26, 2011
Consumers made their way to kick off Macy's Herald Square in New York
the holiday season, giving retailers
some hope for a cheery season,
American shoppers in search of cheap toys and televisions raced to stores in high numbers after Thanksgiving dinner, signaling that a gambit by big store chains to open at midnight succeeded in drawing more customers.
But it's too early to tell whether the day's traffic spike will mean stronger holiday sales. It's possible stores merely pulled forward sales that would have happened anyway. And economic strains clearly prompted many shoppers to brave the midnight crowds in return for deep discounts.
From New York to Los Angeles, retailers such as Macy's Inc. and Toys "R" Us Inc. reported strong customer visits, especially at stores that opened at midnight or earlier for the first time.
"The response last night was overwhelming," Best Buy Co. Chief Executive Brian Dunn said in an interview Friday morning after stores opened at midnight. "The customer liked going out after Thanksgiving dinner," he said.
Gerald Storch, CEO of Toys "R" Us, which opened even earlier at 9 p.m. Thursday, agreed that the new opening times were likely here to stay, because consumers responded. "Customers told us they'd rather go out Thursday night," he said in an interview after monitoring sales from his landmark location in New York's Times Square. "Some people had jobs they had to get to in the morning."
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