<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>340876</docID> <postdate>2025-03-22 10:42:07</postdate> <headline>Scientific method to the madness of adding ice cubes to wine</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-340877" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250321143884940886-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>Winemaker David Lowe has spent years researching ways to mitigate the effects of climate change. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Stephanie Gardiner</strong> in Orange</span></p> <p><strong>Winemaker David Lowe jokes his latest idea would have forced him out of the industry 20 years ago.</strong></p> <p>The veteran vigneron has started encouraging drinkers to add ice cubes to their wine.</p> <p>"All my fellow winemakers are probably going to pray for my soul," Mr Lowe quipped.</p> <p>There is, however, a deep and scientific method to the madness.</p> <p>With a long history of producing French styles, Mr Lowe planted Mediterranean and Italian vines in 2021 after years of research into wine grapes that would grow in a warming climate.</p> <p>In late-February, Mr Lowe harvested the first fruit from his so-called climate change vineyard, planted in a former wheat paddock at the Lowe winery in Mudgee, in central western NSW.</p> <p>A very early trial of the grapes, which are grown in curved rows nestled between fig, pistachio, feijoa and maple trees, has produced wines with salty, almost briny profiles.</p> <p>"If you go to lunch or dinner in southern Italy, they eat and drink for four hours," Mr Lowe told AAP.</p> <p>"Wine is not there to get them pissed, wine is there to help them digest food, so they often add water or ice.</p> <p>"These varieties – because they've got this salty taste – they're nice with water."</p> <p>Australian wine producers are at the forefront of climate change adaptation, with warming temperatures creating shorter growing seasons that influence flavour.</p> <p>Mr Lowe is one of many local winemakers experimenting with Mediterranean varieties, alongside producers in South Australia's McLaren Vale region, the NSW Hunter Valley and Beechworth in Victoria.</p> <p>Climate change has been identified as a major challenge for the $5.7 billion industry, part of a complex crisis also marked by a global shift towards lower alcohol consumption.</p> <p>"It's quite a conundrum because climate change is pushing the grape-ripening to different flavours, but also higher alcohol," said Leigh Schmidtke from the Gulbali Institute at Charles Sturt University.</p> <p>"But our consumers are wanting more refined flavours, or different flavours and lower alcohol."</p> <p>Winemakers are coping with warmer seasons by increasing canopy on their vines, using fertilisers, adopting sustainable practices and experimenting with varying irrigation levels.</p> <p>Some even use sprays that act as a sunscreen on vine leaves and fruit.</p> <p>But any change in a vineyard can have unpredictable effects on the character of wine, Professor Schmidtke said.</p> <p>Ultimately, the answer for some in the Australian industry might be growing vines from the warmer climes of Italy and Spain.</p> <p>"They have had 1000 years of evolution to become adapted to really hot climates and sometimes with low available water," Prof Schmidtke said.</p> <p>"They are very well-suited to those really arid climates."</p> <p>Mr Lowe became aware of how climate change was compressing the traditional growing season soon after moving from the Hunter Valley to Mudgee 20 years ago.</p> <p>Recent advances in meteorological research and technology have helped him predict what Mudgee's climate might be like in 2040.</p> <p>He is hopeful that the fruit in the climate change vineyard - also dubbed the Latin Quarter - will help him face the disparate challenges of global warming and consumer trends.</p> <p>"As long as you have wine and you enjoy wine, it speaks of its region, it goes with food, I don't care how you have it," Mr Lowe said.</p> <p>"Just have a glass of wine - I don't want to kill you with it, I don't want you to be drunk with it.</p> <p>"Attitudes have changed a lot."</p> </body>