When Pau Pijoan began making wine in Mexico’s Guadalupe Valley, it was home to just over a dozen producers. Two decades later, he fears it will fall victim to its own success.
The growing popularity of Mexico’s wine heartland in Baja California has brought an influx of tourists – and with them an increase in hotels, restaurants and other developments.
“When I bought land there were 15 to 18 wine producers. Today there are more than 200,” said Pijoan, a veterinarian by training.
“We are responsible for this brutal and disorderly growth that is typical of Mexico,” he said.
Mexico, better known for its tequila and mezcal spirits, ranks 35th among the world’s wine producers according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).
The Guadalupe Valley produces around three-quarters of the country’s wine, but winemakers fear for the future of their scenic corner of northwestern Mexico due to tourism and climate change.
They have launched a campaign called “Let’s Save the Valley,” warning that nightclubs, mass concerts and other recreational activities are threatening the vines, which bear varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.
“Between 2014 and 2019 we lost 18 percent of agricultural land. If we continue this trend, there will be no farmland by 2037,” they said.
The Guadalupe Valley must not become the new Tulum, they added, referring to a once sleepy fishing village on the Yucatan Peninsula that has become a tourist magnet.
“Something very strange is happening in the valley: an agricultural activity combines with a tourism activity, which is not always the case,” said Keiko Nishikawa, spokeswoman for Santo Tomas Winery.
“How can we balance that? Of course, we wineries are jointly responsible for what happens,” she added.
Some restaurants and nightclubs in the area “offer everything except local wine,” Nishikawa said.
– Industry Challenges –
The warnings come as Mexico prepares to host the 43rd World Congress of Vine and Wine and the OIV General Assembly starting Monday.
Before the week-long meeting in Baja California, the organizers symbolically announced that Ukraine would become the 49th member country.
The aftermath of the Russian invasion is weighing on the global wine market after the pandemic saw a boom in online sales.
“Supplies – like bottle caps – come later and are more expensive,” as does electricity, said OIV Director-General Pau Roca.
Nevertheless, he looks to the future of the industry with “certain optimism”.
“We’re coming out of crises pretty quickly, much more so than the 2008 economic crisis, which was long,” Roca said.
The OIV hopes that new technologies will enable producers to meet economic and climatic challenges.
Winemakers have a large amount of data “generated by the sensors in the vineyards,” Roca said.
But “we cannot integrate them into our decision making. Artificial intelligence can help us,” he added.
In Argentina, the National University of Cuyo is working on a program “to improve crop forecasting” using machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence.
In the Guadalupe Valley, the prospect of worsening water scarcity is among the concerns of locals and winemakers.
“It’s okay that everyone wants to build their own house, but they should also take care of the water because we’re almost running out of water,” said resident Luisa Guerrero, 38.
