It’s a widely documented fact that Puglia is one of Europe’s greatest producers of renewable energy. Between its abundance of sunlight and wind, this long strip of fertile land at the top of the Mediterranean basin is the ideal “farmland” for the production of alternative and environmentally friendly sources of energy.
When you land or depart from the Brindisi airport, you cannot avoid seeing the above panel, which proudly reports the region’s current output of solar energy.
Photo via QualEnergia.it.
But wind and solar power is also transforming the agricultural landscape of Puglia, as more and more farms and grape growers are selling and leasing their fields and vineyards to producers of renewable energy — many of them backed by foreign investors.
For those who wish to see the Pugliese wine industry continue to grow and thrive, there is the fear that renewable energy will be begin to overshadow the historical production of wines (and olive oil) here. Many of Puglia’s olive groves are literally hundreds of years old and simply cannot be replaced. And in the case of grapes, once a vineyard has been converted into a solar power farm, it can take years to reclaim the growing sites for the production of wine (it can take 10-15 harvests before a given vineyard can be used for the production of fine wine).
When I traveled to Puglia to visit with Paolo and Gianni Cantele, they expressed their concerns about the rapidly expanding renewable energy industry there. They are by no means opposed to renewable energy. But they also talked about their worry that the ancient tradition of winemaking here might someday by eclipsed by the lucrative call of the energy industry. Many local grape growers, they said, including historical vineyards where some of Cantele’s fruit is sourced, have sold or leased their parcels to foreign companies.
As in all things, they assured me, the solution will be found in the Latin concept of aequitas — balance.
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