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Winegrowers in Bordeaux are once again struggling with increased peronospora infestation this year. Plant protection expert Alexandre Davy from the French Institute of Vine and Wine (IFV) gave the Conseil interprofessionnel des vins de Bordeaux (CIVB) an overview of the health status of the vineyards.
According to Davy, a third of the 47 untreated control sites in the entire Gironde region already showed at least one symptom of downy mildew on 30 April. "In our network of 56 plots that are in production and have possibly already been treated, every second plot is infected, with an incidence of three per cent".
In the Libournais region, cases are frequent to very frequent. The same applies to the Graves, while the spots in the Médoc are rather isolated. The first symptoms appeared exceptionally early in 2024. "We noticed symptoms as early as 22 April, around two to three weeks earlier than in the 2020 and 2023 vintages. Alexandre Davy explains the phenomenon with the mild and rainy winter. "From September 2023 to April 2024, 950 mm of rain fell in Saint-Émilion - compared to the average 544 mm. And it was 1.3° C warmer." Winegrowers will now have to increase the intervals between treatments and the dose of plant protection products to limit new infestations. Davy expects the epidemic infections to spread to the rest of Bordeaux's vineyards.
(ru / Vitisphere)