Richard Smart passed away recently at the age of 80. He was from Australia and one of the world’s most famous viticulturists. He had consulting assignments all over the world and taught many wine growers the importance of taking care of their foliage and adapting the size, thickness, and other factors to the climate and weather.
“Canopy management” became a buzzword. He became something of a specialist in viticulture in countries with cool climates. I met Richard in Denmark in 2005 when he gave a lecture to Danish (and some Swedish) wine growers.
It was 20 years ago, but the fact is that his final words to us were that “there are two things that threaten wine today, and one is global warming and the other is that wine consumption around the world is decreasing.” Not much has changed since then.
Richard thought it was cold in Denmark; it was 10 degrees C that June day in 2005 (!). Throughout the day, Richard maintained a certain scepticism about Denmark as a wine-producing country and urged all growers to focus solely on sparkling wine.
The climate, Richard believed, is what is most important for wine. Next comes the grape variety, followed by the wine producer. And the soil in all of this? The importance of the soil is exaggerated, he said. “The chemical composition of the soil is not important, but the physical properties are, because they affect drainage.”
