What Are Your Thoughts on the Topic of GMO's in Winemaking/ Viticulture?

[robhennigar]

A recent post authored by Sanda Manuila (article here) on The Academy of Wine website (www.academyofwine.com) addresses the topic of GMO's -genetically modified organisms, in the wine industry.

Her post raises some very good questions, and provides some balanced thought on the subject. It appears that the benefits gained from employing genetic modification to some elements in winemaking - yeast, alcohol tolerance, fungal resistance in plant material, consistency, etc., might possibly be beneficial, however there are many who feel this would be a bad idea.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Thanks for the article Sanda!

[Cheryl Hall]

It bothers me when I see a black or white statement like this: "Carol Meredith, of the University of California at Davis points out that we have the choice: either we make GM vines that are resistant to fungal diseases, or we keep spraying chemicals." That assumes there are only 2 solutions to this problem. What about growing these grapes where the fungal diseases are not prevalent; what about natural methods of controlling the spread of the fungi, etc?
There are so many possible consequences in transferring a naturally occuring gene from one organism to another in which that gene does not naturally occur - most of which we do not know nor can we predict. Many of these consequences may take decades or even centuries to manifest. When synthetic pesticides were first introduced, everyone thought they were great. It took many years for the consequences of that to become apparent. Same with gasoline and the internal combustion engine. We just need to be thoughtful about the changes we are making and evaluate if we think the risks are really worth the benefits. Just my $0.02.