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The 2022 wine harvest in France will already start at the end of July. In the Gard department between Avignon and Montpellier, the wineries are already preparing for the earliest harvest ever. Marie David from the Héraclès winery in Codognan said: "On 17 June, most of the plots had completed the grape closure. I wouldn't be surprised if the first berries turned colour in about ten days." The winery had to rearrange the traditional summer holiday to be ready for harvest in the last week of July to preserve the thiol profiles of their Sauvignons and Muscat Petits Grains.
The reason for the extremely early harvest is the warm May, when temperatures were 2.5°C above average, according to weather stations in the region. Before that, they had risen constantly, giving the vines time to adapt to the heat. Therefore, Marie David does not expect them to suffer from the current heat wave - especially since she can irrigate 60 per cent of her vineyards. Yesterday, however, the heat wave again triggered huge hailstorms. A thunderstorm track about 100 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide devastated thousands of hectares of vineyards in Bordeaux and Cognac.
(al / Source: vitisphere; Photo: Cave d'Héraclès)
Earliest wine harvest in France since records began - Harvest started on 12 August in the southern Maconnais