|
|
The first grapes of the 2024 vintage in France were harvested on 30 July. Laurent Maynadier brought in early-ripening Muscat grapes with deliberately vegetal, fresh flavours at his Château Champ des Sœurs vineyard in Fitou in the Languedoc. This is the fourth time in the past eight years that he has started harvesting in July. His vineyards have been suffering from the drought for two years, as he explains: "Under normal conditions, we harvest 50 to 70 hectolitres per hectare from this vineyard. This year it is only ten hectolitres per hectare. The number of grapes is about the same, but they have very little juice. The heat of the coming days would concentrate them too much." Maynadier also reports plots where the leaves are falling off the vines and the grapes are suffering sunburn.
In the Pyrénées-Orientales in Roussillon, Jean-Marc Lafage also picked Muscat grapes for a frizzante this morning. The main harvest in the region will start between 10 and 15 August. The earliest harvest start in France was on 25 July in 2022.
(al / vitisphere)