Trip notes #2, wine, and another disaster for Koch

For a few days I stayed with a friend who spent his whole life studying, drinking, selling, collecting fine wine.  On a modest salary he has accumulated hugh wine cellar of rare high quality wines and Cognac.  I got to taste some 1929 Cognac, year of the crash, very moving, maple syrup nose.  I've tasted better, but never that old.

He travels the world drinking wine for pleasure and business, tours put on by some of the worlds authorities.  He told me one group who has believed in global warming for many years, the vineyard owners.  Example, Reisling, a soft white fruity wine with mineral water backbone, primary area for production Mosel river in France-Luxembourg-Germany, south east France, Austria.  We drank some recent vintage and I said it was more sweet than I recalled in years past.  Yes said he, the grapes ripen faster each year, so suddenly they can no longer easily harvest it in various sugar contents, instead boom, much of it is ready at once, with little warning.  To the wine industry this is a disaster, and it has been a constant shift over the last 50 years and now it is severe.  Other wines are changing as well.  Grapes for fine wine are very persnickity, a few degrees change and oh crap.  Some French fields are moving to higher elevations, but this is an unexpected expense, the old vines below are a lost asset.  The wine industry like the ski industry is not so soft spoken about global warming being a burden now.
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News today tells of a study by a global warming skeptic,  the second big one funded by Koch industries to spread doubt.  Sha-zam, fucked again.  Their chosen skeptic said his own study converted him. The largest study ever, included 14.4 million temp recordings over 44k sites going back to 1753.  Result, 2.5°F increase with 1.5 of it being in 50 years.  The study looked at CO2 and other suspected contributors and, in the words of Richard Muller, PhD and Koch's man, "We were not expecting this, but as scientist, it is our duty to let the evidence change our minds."  Not only did he find warming, he determined by looking at other evidence it is man made. I am a converted sceptic said he.   Poor Koch, the second time in a year a GW study by hand picked skeptics found the same thing, that they are on the wrong side of the earths future.