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A sfusato lemon, whose peel is used to make limoncello, can weigh up to two kilogramsTerroir conveys character
Most of these spirits are rooted in the agricultural traditions of specific regions, and, in many cases, have become an integral part of the local culture. For example, Slivovitz is a traditional spirit made from damson plums, produced both commercially and privately in many parts of Slavic-speaking Central Europe and the Balkans, as well as in Hungary. It is so connected to the history and life of the region that it was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2022, at the request of its country of origin, Serbia.Many spirits, especially those distilled from fruits grown only in specific terroirs, are geographically protected by their countries of origin. Calvados, for instance, just as many French wines, is governed by France’s appellation contrôlée regulations and can only be distilled from cider made from apple varieties grown in designated areas of Normandy. Likewise, in Germany, Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser (cherry spirit of the Black Forest), can be produced only in and around the Black Forest from small cherries, predominantly the Dollenseppler and Benjaminler varieties. [1] Then there is Südtiroler Marille, a spirit distilled from fermented apricots in the Autonomous Province of Südtirol-Alto Adige in Northern Italy. [2] There are dozens of other examples.
Though technically all of these iconic spirits can be imitated generically anywhere in the world, their unique flavors and aromas stem from a combination of specific fruit varieties, specific growing regions, and often specific distilling processes. Unfortunately, because this uniqueness is so closely tied to a cultivation geography, the fruits are also dependent on a stable local environment, which, however, is no longer a sure thing because of climate change.
As go the fruits, so go their spirits
As pointed out in the article fruit juice in a changing world, fruit farmers worldwide – whether they focus on raising fruit for liquors, non-alcoholic juices, or other products – are now confronted with unprecedented difficulties from the effects of droughts, floods, and excessive heat, often at different times even in the same year. While processing industries can sometimes shift their sourcing to other locales, makers of specialized liquors and their farmers obviously cannot. When they are faced with a calamity, they are simply out of luck.
One of the world’s steepest agricultural terroirs: Terrace farming of Sfusato lemons along the Amalfi Coast of Italy The end of Limoncello?
Limoncello, the famed Italian liqueur, is made from the zest of the large, thick-skinned Sfusato lemon grown along the Amalfi Coast, the Bay of Naples, and in Sicily. Weighing up to two kilograms each, Sfusato lemons are prized by chefs and connoisseurs worldwide for their intense aromatics and high concentration of essential oils. The cultivation methods of these lemons – and the production of Limoncello – have not changed for centuries and have thus become integral to local traditions and culture. As Liezel Norval-Kruger explains in eatsplorer, “It has been said that lemon farming on the Amalfi Coast is Agricoltura Eroica (heroic agriculture) because all the cultivation is located on what seems to be impossible farming land. The trees are planted on terraces located on vertical soils, which thin out from the hills to sea level. The terraces are edged by dry stone walls built by hand in such a way as to manipulate the flow of rainwater, retaining enough water for the trees with the rest draining away.” [3]For hundreds of years, the lemon farmers found success with these methods…that is, until climate change. According to Giorgia De Pasquale of Roma Tre University, Amalfi’s lemon terraces have “decreased from 72 hectares to 48 hectares since 1954.” [4] Much of this can be attributed to rainfalls, known to climatologists as atmospheric rivers, which can be so intense that they trigger landslides and cause the lemon terraces to collapse. Add to this the increasing number of wildfires, the result, no doubt, both of rising temperatures from stationary heat domes and of creeping urbanization. As Michele Buonomo from the Italian non-profit organization Legambiente commented already in 2017, “We are experiencing rainfall that is much more intense – we are seeing torrential, almost tropical, rain (…) It has happened in the last 10 years – the period in which we have seen the hottest temperatures globally for at least two centuries.” [5] Unfortunately, in spite of a continued huge demand for the Sfusato lemon and Limoncello, as well as the fervent search for mitigations that could save the fruit, many of the famed lemon terraces are being abandoned.
A pear in a bottle: A rare sight that might become rarer
Then there is the Williams Pear, known as Bartlett Pear in the US, the fruit used in Poire Williams, an eau de vie made primarily in the Alsace region of France and in the Canton of Valais of Switzerland. In Valais, the local Eau-de-vie de poire du Valais has been an appellation d'origine protégée since 2001.
The production process for Poire Williams is rather daunting: The crushed, fermented fruit is pot-distilled, requiring between roughly 10 and 30 kilograms of pears to make one liter. The liquor is then aged in glass or stainless-steel containers for as long as ten years before bottling. When it is sold with a whole pear inside the bottle, the packaging is known as “prisonnière.” This is accomplished by attaching bottles to fruit buds in the spring and allowing the “imprisoned” fruit to grow inside. [6] Yet, a sufficient supply of Williams Pear is also imperiled by climate change. On July 24, 2023, for instance, the fruit region of the Canton of Valais suffered severe, climate-induced hail damage, causing a loss of some 1,500 tons of pears, according to the Schweizer Obstverband (Swiss Fruit Association), and reducing this year’s yield to a mere 46 percent of the previous year’s. [7] On a broader scale, as reported by the US Department of Agriculture on August 31, 2023, because of climate change, pear production in the European Union will “move north”. A bad omen for Swiss pear farmers and the Eau-de-vie de poire du Valais.
… and succulents too!
Limoncello and Poire William are just two examples of the many iconic fruit and fruit-based spirits under threat from a changing climate. But other agriculture-based spirits are affected as well. A subsequent article will focus, for instance, on the wild agave, the basis of mezcal, and specifically on the blue Weber agave variety, which is the basis of tequila. If these succulent plants vanish, so will one of the world’s most ubiquitous cocktails, the Margarita!
References
1. Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, technical Sheet, Geographical Indication, Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser.
2. Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, technical Sheet, Geographical Indication, Südtiroler Marille.
3. Liezel Norval-Kruger, “Amalfi lemons, why are they so special,” eatsplorer, 10. Juli, 2022.
4. Sarah Neish, “Amalfi lemons under threat from climate change,” the drinks business, 2. Juli, 2022.
5. Nick Squires, “How climate change threatens famed Amalfi coast,” The Christian Science Monitor, 1. Januar, 2017.
6. David Wonrich, Herausgeber, Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, Oxford University Press, 2021.
7. Schweizer Obstverband Medien Mitteilung: “Below-average Swiss table stone fruit harvest expected,” 24. August, 2023.
Further articles from the series on beverage raw materials and climate change:
