There has been an unusual weather phenomenon in the French wine region this spring as well: warm in March but cold in April.
In France, farmers are trying to save the harvest of valuable Chablis wine.
Chablis is a dry white wine produced only in the Chablis wine region of Burgundy in central France.
The area has a special climate suitable for wine production, but it is suffering from a harmful weather phenomenon for the second year in a row.
March has been so warm that the shoots have grown rapidly. The heat, on the other hand, has been followed by a cold cycle that threatens to kill the plants.
It is normal that there may be frost in early April. However, it is not normal that the shoots have already developed at that stage, recalls Chablista cultivator Thomas Ventoura.
– We are all nervous because after last year’s poor harvest we were expecting something more normal, Ventoura tells Reuters.
“This makes you wonder if the industry has a future.”
Last year, the heat of March and the cold of April brought French wine production to its lowest level in years. According to the French Ministry of Agriculture, up to two-thirds of Yonne’s wine harvest was destroyed.
Farmers fear that the spring frosts will become recurring. According to Ventoura, there have been three major frost periods since 2016.
– This makes me seriously wonder if this industry has a future, he says.
Farmers have tried to heat the vines with oil lamps or spray water on them, forming a protective layer of ice around the buds.
Many farmers have so far refused to believe in the effects of climate change, says Yonnen Farmers’ Association wine adviser Mathilde Civet To Reuters.
There has been both drought and frost since 2020, making the change visible to everyone.
– I think the revival is coming now, Civet says.
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