Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a diversification by grape varieties may help wine producers reduce uncertainty in quantity and quality variations due to increasingly erratic climate conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study hand-collects granular quantity and quality data from wine harvest reports for vintages 2003 to 2017 for the Valais region in Switzerland. The data allows us to obtain detailed data on harvested kilograms/liters and Oechsle/Brix degrees. It is then merged with precise meteorological data over the same sample period. The authors use this data set to capture weather conditions and their impact on harvested quantities and quality. Finally, they build portfolios including different grape varieties to evaluate whether this reduces variations in quality and quantity over vintages.

Findings

The findings highlight that the weather varies relatively strongly over the sample period and that climate hazards such as hail, frost or ensuing vine diseases effectively occur. These strongly impact the harvested quantities but less the quality of the wine. The authors further show that planting different grape varieties allows for a significant reduction in the variation of harvested quantities over time and thus acts as a good solution against climate risk.

Originality/value

The effect of climate change on viticulture is becoming increasingly important and felt and bears real economic and social consequences. This study transposes portfolio diversification which is central to reducing risk in the finance industry, into the wine industry and shows that the same principle holds. The authors thus propose a novel idea on how to mitigate climate risk.

中文翻译：

---

从风险到回报：葡萄品种多元化的战略优势

目的

本研究的目的是评估葡萄品种的多样化是否可以帮助葡萄酒生产商减少由于日益不稳定的气候条件而导致的数量和质量变化的不确定性。

设计/方法论/途径

这项研究从瑞士瓦莱州地区 2003 年至 2017 年葡萄酒收成报告中手工收集了详细的数量和质量数据。这些数据使我们能够获得有关收获公斤/升和厄克勒/白利糖度的详细数据。然后将其与同一采样周期内的精确气象数据合并。作者使用该数据集来捕获天气状况及其对收获数量和质量的影响。最后，他们建立了包括不同葡萄品种的投资组合，以评估这是否可以减少年份中质量和数量的变化。

发现

研究结果强调，在样本期间，天气变化相对较大，冰雹、霜冻或随之而来的葡萄树疾病等气候灾害确实发生了。这些对收获数量有很大影响，但对葡萄酒的质量影响较小。作者进一步表明，种植不同的葡萄品种可以显着减少收获量随时间的变化，从而成为应对气候风险的良好解决方案。

原创性/价值

气候变化对葡萄栽培的影响变得越来越重要，并产生了实际的经济和社会后果。这项研究将对于降低金融行业风险至关重要的投资组合多元化转移到葡萄酒行业，并表明同样的原则成立。因此，作者提出了一个关于如何减轻气候风险的新想法。