Champagne that Glows as Well as Sparkles?
I’m not sure what to make of this:
"Greenpeace today revealed that France’s iconic
sparkling wine, Champagne, is threatened by radioactive contamination
leaking from a nuclear waste dumpsite in the region. Low levels of
radioactivity have already been found in underground water less than 10
km from the famous Champagne vineyards….The Champagne producers are facing two nuclear timebombs – one already
leaking at Soulaine, and one planned at Bure. The wine producers in the
Rhone region stood up to the nuclear state in France and won. The
Champagne region needs to act fast before it’s too late,"
Essentially, Greenpeace is suggesting not so subtly that Champagne is about to glow as well as sparkle if something isn’t done about the nuclear waste sites in the Champagne region.
If learned one fundamental truth in my years working in wine PR it’s "Vintage Champagne=Good" and "Radioactive Champagne=bad".
However, I’ve also learned that the best way to get a people’s attention, after offering them free money, is to scare the shit out of them. Though I"m not a scientist, I get the funny feeling this claim is the latter.
In California we’ve not had a debate on nuclear energy or nuclear waste in a couple decades. Nuclear Energy simply isn’t politically viable in California. That may change if the price of energy continues to rise in the state. Yet if this happens, I’m pretty sure Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Santa Barbara and Monterey’s wine regions are likely safe.
Thanks to the NRC, no nuclear plant will ever threaten the ground water around a nuclear power station. Wineries do not have to act. If there is the smallest of leaks, the plant will be shut down before the afore mentioned leak can even cause any harm.
This is interesting and non-beneficial to the Champagne vignerons, however this type of thing is threatening many wine regions around the world, although not specifically from nuclear power plants.
In the litte knowm wine region of Pemberton in Western Australia, a bio-mass plant is to be built at the end of the valley where wineries and vineyards are downwind. The proposed effect of waste and emmissions from the plant are contradictory, but there is evidence that vineyards and grapes will be effected. To what extent we do not know.
Just thought I would spread the word, to emphasise that many smaller, little known, evolving wine regions around the world face challenges just as great as the global giants.