Bedell Cellars winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich sat down with us this week to talk about how climate change is impacting the Long Island wine region.
Olsen-Harbich is a founder of Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing, which recently hosted NASA climate scientist Benjamin Cook for a lecture titled “Wine and Climate from the Past to the Future.”
Dr. Cook is a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He specializes in the study of drought and the role of the land surface and vegetation in the climate system, including how climate change is likely to affect ecosystems and agriculture. His lecture illuminated the historic relationship between drought, temperature, and the timing of wine harvest and examined how this relationship has evolved over time due to the influence of climate change.
A veteran in the local industry, Olsen-Harbich recapped the event and talked about what he’s seeing in his role as winemaker for Bedell Cellars.
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