In the hilly region of Champagne, in eastern France, winegrowers are bringing in grapes early this year, for a harvest they expect to be one of the best in a decade.
The harvest began at the end of August for most vineyards, instead of the usual September, after a rainy winter and a summer heatwave look set to yield a bumper crop and high-quality bubbly.
Champagne wines are expected to see a sharp rise in production – up 56% from last year, to 3.5 million hectolitres – after several years of unsatisfying crops due to bad weather.
'Exceptionally Good'
"The last few years have been tough. This year is expected to be exceptionally good, so we are very happy," said the president of the Champagne winegrowers' union, Maxime Toubart.
While most Champagne winegrowers are celebrating an exceptional harvest, others see the beginning of long-term change in the region.
Winegrower Eric Rodez, who runs his own vineyards and operates a 1936-built traditional press, is convinced that climate change is making earlier harvests the norm.
"Because of climate change, we have to be prepared to regularly harvest in August," Rodez said, noting that starting earlier is the only way to keep the uniqueness of the Champagne wine, produced with grapes that cannot be too ripe.
The trend has already emerged over the last decade, with three harvests starting in August, rather than September. Thirty years ago, harvests in October were not unheard of.
Big Harvest
According to Toubart and the Champagne winegrowers' union, 15,000+ Champagne winegrowers will likely harvest between 13,000 and 16,000 kilogrammes (29,000-35,000 pounds) of grapes per hectare (2.5 acres).
That leaves a comfortable margin for producers to use only the best grapes and rebuild reserves used up in recent years, since the industry has agreed to bring 10,800 kilogrammes per hectare to market this year.
"We have never experienced this before in the Champagne region, in terms of quantity and quality," said Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the champagne houses' union.
"This will enable us to put into cellar amazing wines, which will be on the market in three years," Barillère added.
Each year, 310 million bottles of French champagne, whose geographic designation is strictly controlled as a brand, are sold worldwide, while more than a billion are stored in cellars, waiting for the right moment to be savoured.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
