Due to a severe drought, France’s wine regions have their earliest harvest ever

• Bordeaux is one of France’s most celebrated wine regions.
• The harvest that once started in mid-September is now happening earlier than ever.
• This is due to drought and the wine industry’s adaptation to the unpredictable effects of climate change.

In the famed Bordeaux vineyards, the scenery is unchanged, with rows of green vines supporting big clusters of ripe, robust grapes. But this year, both in one of France’s most renowned wine regions and throughout the rest of Europe, something is noticeably different. Due to the extreme drought and the wine industry’s adaptation to the unpredictable consequences of climate change, the harvest, which historically began in mid-September, is now beginning earlier than before – in mid-August.

Ironically, despite lesser yields, the season of heat waves and wildfires provided superb grapes. However, getting such a crop required innovative growth methods, such as trimming vines differently and occasionally watering them in locations where irrigation is often prohibited. Additionally, producers all throughout Europe who have already seen the effects of global warming are concerned about what lies ahead.

Global warming has so far been a very good thing. Better balance and ripeness are present. However, Fabien Teitgen, technical director of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte, an estate that grows organic wine grapes in Martillac, south of Bordeaux, warned that if you look to the future and raise the temperature by one degree more, plus, you will lose the freshness element of the wine’s balance.

As a series of heat waves and a lack of rain affected most of Europe, grape producers modified their methods. Huge pine forests were completely devastated by flames in the Bordeaux region of southwest France. From the end of June to the middle of August, there was no rain.

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Numerous employees kneel in the vineyards to hand-pick grapes and place them in baskets as the harvest progresses. The process of making wine begins as soon as the fruit is crushed to generate juice, which is then poured into tanks and barrels.

The harvest is intended to generate the renowned Pessac-Léognan white wine. Soon after will come red wine.

One of the Château Carbonnieux estate’s owners, Eric Perrin, remembers that harvests began in the 1970s, when he was a boy, around the middle of September. They started on August 16 of this year.

However, Perrin claimed that the 2022 harvest might be the best yet because the grapes are strong and balanced. Additionally, the hot, dry weather protected vines from illnesses like mildew.

At Château Carbonnieux, making wine has been a long-standing tradition. Before becoming president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson visited the vineyards in 1787 and planted a pecan tree there that is still standing today.

President Emmanuel Macron now occasionally offers Château Carbonnieux wine to illustrious hosts.

The wine industry has transformed as a result of the drought.

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