VINITALY 2008 – HAS THE WEATHER REALLY GONE WACKY? ACCORDING TO AGRI-METEOROLOGIST LUIGI MARIANI FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MILAN, IT COULD JUST BE A NATURAL CLIMATIC OSCILLATION

Since 1989 weather patterns in Europe have completely changed, creating entirely new scenarios for farmers and winemakers who are now trying to learn how to cope with these changes. But has the weather really gone wacky because of human intervention? According to Professor Luigi Mariani, agri-meteorologist from the University of Milan, this question should not be left to be answered with just media hype and sensationalism.
“The theory of global warming” – explained Mariani – “is a theory that is completely reliable but it does not take entirely into account the incontrovertible element that the planet has natural and fearsome oscillations in climate over long periods of time”.

It is a certainty that the climate has changed and that, for wine producers specifically, has meant, “A mutation that started in 1989 that could create conditions similar to that of the Middle Ages, during which viticulture was practiced as far north as Britain and Scotland”.