Vineyards in NY wine country push sustainability as they adapt to climate change

PENN YAN, N.Y. (AP) — A decade ago, Scott Osborn would have eagerly told prospective vineyard owners looking to join the wine industry to “jump into it.”

Now, his message is different.

“You’re crazy,” said Osborn, who owns Fox Run Vineyards, a sprawling 50-acre (20-hectare) farm on Seneca Lake, the largest of New York’s Finger Lakes.

It’s becoming riskier to grow grapes in the state’s prominent winemaking region. Harvests like Osborn’s are increasingly endangered by unpredictable weather from climate change. Attitudes on wine are shifting. Political tensions, such as tariffs amid President Donald Trump’s trade wars and the administration’s rollback of environmental policies, are also looming problems.

Despite the challenges, however, many winegrowers are embracing sustainable practices, wanting to be part of the solution to global warming while hoping they can adapt to changing times.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Rochester Institute of Technology and The Associated Press.

The Finger Lakes, which span a large area of western New York, have water that can sparkle and give off a sapphire hue on sunny days. More than 130 wineries dot the shorelines and offer some of America’s most famous white wines.

At Fox Run, visitors step inside to sip wines and bring a bottle — or two — home. Many are longtime customers, like Michele Magda and her husband, who have frequently made the trip from Pennsylvania.

“This is like a little escape, a little getaway,” she said.

Traditionally, the plants’ buds break out in spring, emerging with colorful grapes that range from the cabernet franc’s deep blues to the soft greens of the region’s most popular grape, riesling. However, a warming world is making that happen earlier, adding to uncertainty and potential risks for farmers. If a frost comes after the buds have broken, growers can lose much of the harvest.

Year-round rain and warmer night temperatures differentiate the Finger Lakes from its West Coast competitors, said Paul Brock, a viticulture and wine technology professor at Finger Lakes Community College. Learning to adapt to those fluctuations has given local winemakers a competitive advantage, he said.

Globally, vineyards are grappling with the impacts of increasingly unpredictable weather. In France, record rainfall and harsh weather have spelled trouble for winegrowers trying their best to adapt. Along the West Coast, destructive wildfires are worsening wine quality.

Many winegrowers say they are working to make their operations more sustainable, wanting to help solve climate change caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline, coal and natural gas.

Farms can become certified under initiatives such as the New York Sustainable Winegrowing program. Fox Run and more than 50 others are certified, which requires that growers improve practices like bettering soil health and protecting water quality of nearby lakes.

Beyond the rustic metal gate featuring the titular foxes, some of Osborn’s sustainability initiatives come into view.

Hundreds of solar panels powering 90% of the farm’s electricity are the most obvious feature. Other initiatives are more subtle, like underground webs of fungi used to insulate crops from drought and disease.

“We all have to do something,” Osborn said.

For Suzanne Hunt and her family’s 7th-generation vineyard, doing something about climate change means devoting much of their efforts to sustainability.

Hunt Country Vineyards, along Keuka Lake, took on initiatives like using underground geothermal pipelines for heating and cooling, along with composting. Despite the forward-looking actions, climate change is one of the factors forcing the family to make tough decisions about their future.

Devastating frosts in recent years have caused “catastrophic” crop loss. They’ve also had to reconcile with changing consumer attitudes, as U.S. consumption of wine fell over the past few years, according to wine industry advocacy group Wine Institute.

By this year’s end, the vineyard will stop producing wine and instead will hold community workshops and sell certain grape varieties.

“The farm and the vineyard, you know, it’s part of me,” Hunt said, adding that she wanted to be able to spend all of her time helping other farms and businesses implement sustainable practices. “I’ll let the people whose dream and life is to make wine do that part, and I’ll happily support them.”

Vinny Aliperti, owner of Billsboro Winery along Seneca Lake, is working to improve the wine industry’s environmental footprint. In the past year, he’s helped establish communal wine bottle dumpsters that divert the glass from entering landfills and reuse it for construction materials.

But Aliperti said he’d like to see more nearby wineries and vineyards in sustainability efforts. The wine industry’s longevity depends on it, especially under a presidential administration that doesn’t seem to have sustainability at top of mind, he said.

“I think we’re all a bit scared, frankly, a bit, I mean, depressed,” he said. “I don’t see very good things coming out of the next four years in terms of the environment.”

Osborn is bracing for sweeping cuts to federal environmental policies that previously made it easier to fund sustainability initiatives. Tax credits for Osborn’s solar panels made up about half of over $400,000 in upfront costs, in addition to some state and federal grants. Osborn wants to increase his solar production, but he said he won’t have enough money without those programs.

Fox Run could also lose thousands of dollars from retaliatory tariffs and boycotts of American wine from his Canadian customers. In March, Canada introduced 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods — including wine.

Osborn fears he can’t compete with larger wine-growing states like California, which may flood the American market to make up for lost customers abroad. Smaller vineyards in the Finger Lakes might not survive these economic pressures, he said.

Back at Fox Run's barrel room, Aric Bryant, a decade-long patron, says all the challenges make him even more supportive of New York wines.

“I have this, like, fierce loyalty,” he said. "I go to restaurants around here and if they don’t have Finger Lakes wines on their menu, I’m like, ‘What are you even doing serving wine?’”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

This story was first published on April 23, 2025. It was updated on April 28, 2025, to add context about the decision to close Hunt Country Vineyards by the end of the year.

Solar panels operate at Fox Run Vineyards and Seneca Lake, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Roark Castner works at Anthony Road Winery, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

A sign that reads, "What happens at the winery stays at the winery," sits on a shelf in the head winemaker's office at Fox Run Vineyards, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Rose and Paul Wells taste wine at Fox Run Vineyards, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, chats with customers Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Solar panels operate at Fox Run Vineyards and Seneca Lake, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

A tractor moves along rows between dormant grapevines at Fox Run Vineyards, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, walks past wine barrels, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Samples of red wine sit on a table in the head winemaker's office at Fox Run Vineyards, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Head winemaker Craig Hosbach walks past rows of wine tanks at Fox Run Vineyards on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, enters a wine production building Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, walks through the vineyards past solar panels Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, stands for a photo, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards, walks past dormant grapevines, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Penn Yan, N.Y. (Natasha Kaiser via AP)

PARIS (AP) — For powerful men in France’s film industry, this was a week of reckoning. Gérard Depardieu — the country’s most famous male actor — was convicted of sexual assault. Two days later, the Cannes Film Festival barred another actor accused of rape from walking the red carpet.

Together, the decisions sent a message that France had long resisted: that artistic brilliance may no longer shield those who abuse their power.

For decades, Depardieu was revered as French cinema’s “sacred monster” — a towering talent whose gluttony, volatility and magnetism became part of his myth. With more than 250 films to his name, many believed he would remain untouchable even after more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.

Now, that myth has cracked.

The verdict has revived a broader question France has ducked since the dawn of #MeToo: Can a country that celebrates seduction and irreverence finally hold its male icons to account?

France has long lived its own #MeToo contradiction. That talent, charm, or intellect forgives misconduct. That the art excuses the artist. This is the land that gave the world Brigitte Bardot’s pout and Catherine Deneuve’s poise — and then watched both recoil when the movement came knocking. Deneuve has defended “the right" to seduce, while Bardot has dismissed feminism outright: “I like men.”

But the ground is shifting — fast.

Depardieu was handed an 18-month suspended sentence Tuesday for groping two women on a 2021 film set. He denies the charges and is appealing.

“It’s the end of impunity of artists with a capital A,” Carine Durrieu Diebolt, a lawyer for one of the two women who won their case against Depardieu, told The Associated Press. The verdict represented “a bookend for putting actors on a pedestal because they were talented,” she added.

Two days later, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival barred actor Théo Navarro-Mussy — accused of rape by three former partners — from attending the premiere of a film he stars in, even though the file was dropped for lack of evidence. The women are launching a civil complaint.

Navarro-Mussy denies wrongdoing. His lawyer said that she’s unaware of any ongoing proceedings against him.

What stunned wasn’t just the decision, but who made it. Cannes director Thierry Frémaux had long been seen as emblematic of the old guard. He defended Roman Polanski for years and continued to screen his films despite the director’s 1977 guilty plea in the U.S. for sex with a 13-year-old. In 2018, when asked why Cannes still included Polanski, Frémaux said: “These are complicated matters.”

Frémaux opened 2023's festival with a film starring Johnny Depp, despite the actor’s highly public legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard over allegations of domestic abuse, in which he was never criminally charged. When asked about the backlash, Frémaux replied: “I only have one rule: it’s the freedom of thinking, and the freedom of speech and acting within a legal framework.”

This week, the rules changed.

“The Cannes decision is of course linked to the Depardieu verdict,” said Céline Piques of Osez le féminisme (“Dare Feminism!”), a group that campaigns against sexual violence. “(They’ve) realized which way the wind is blowing. Frémaux is trying to right the wrongs.”

Not everyone welcomed the verdict — or what followed — as a cultural turning point.

Fanny Ardant, one of French cinema’s grandes dames and a longtime friend of Depardieu, sat on his side in court. She is now directing him in a film in Portugal, despite the conviction.

“Fanny Ardant? She completely missed the point,” said Piques. “She downplayed the violence, normalized it. That’s rape culture, plain and simple.”

Juliette Binoche, Cannes jury president and one of France’s most respected actors, struck a note of restraint: “He’s not a monster. He’s a man — one who has, apparently, been desacralized.”

Her caution captured something deeper: a country caught between the urge to change and the instinct to protect its giants.

In 2024, more than 22,000 rapes were reported in France. Fewer than 3% led to convictions. “The Depardieu verdict shows there’s progress,” said lawyer Anne-Sophie Laguens, who works with victims of sexual assault. “But for most women, the barriers to justice remain enormous.”

When Bertrand Cantat — front man of Noir Désir and once one of France’s bestselling rock singers — launched a 2018 comeback tour, he had served just four years in prison for killing his partner, actor Marie Trintignant, during a violent assault.

Despite public outrage, he returned to the stage and performed.

“That would be unthinkable today,” said Piques. “The public mood has changed. What we tolerate has changed.”

One breakthrough came not from a film set, but an Avignon courtroom. The conviction of 51 men for drugging and raping Gisele Pelicot — a case long ignored despite her pleas — marked a turning point. For years, shame was hers. Now, it belongs to the perpetrators.

“It proved rapists aren’t just strangers in alleys,” said Piques. “They’re husbands. Colleagues. Respected men.”

That shift in shame is now rippling through the cultural world — once seen as a bastion of male privilege. Recently. director Christophe Ruggia was convicted of abusing actor Adèle Haenel when she was a minor, though he is appealing; and actor-director Nicolas Bedos, was sentenced for sexual assault.

Slowly but surely, yes. The system that long protected men like Depardieu is not yet dismantled, but it is shifting.

As one of the actor’s accusers said through tears after the ruling: “I’m very, very much satisfied with the decision. That’s a victory for me, really. And a big progress, a step forward. I feel justice was made.”

FILE - French actor Gerard Depardieu, left, and Belgian actress Cecile de France pose during a photo call for the film "Quand J'etais Chanteur," at the 59th International film festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)