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The 2021 harvest is underway in Burgundy, but the region’s wine growers are holding their breath over the latest yields after a year of severe weather.
According to Vins de Bourgogne, the 2021 harvest began around September 18-20, as planned when the producers started their first plots. However, reports across France are reporting that wine growers can no longer find many grapes to harvest, due to the perfect storm of weather events during the growing season.
As previously stated by beverage trade, French winegrowers are expected to produce nearly a third of their usual wine production this year, down 29% from 2020. Burgundy is one of the hardest hit regions, with yields expected to be lower about 47% over last year due to crop frost and hail.
The growing season in Burgundy got off to a relatively good start, with early spring heat causing early growth, but temperatures dropped in early April, to -7 in places, causing widespread damage to budding vines, especially Chardonnay.
The high temperatures in June helped trigger faster growth, with ‘perfect’ conditions for flowering, pollination and fruit formation making up for some of the lost time – but some vineyards were subsequently hit by hail in late June .
Rainfall and temperatures throughout the first half of the year were fairly average, with the exception of Yonne in northwestern Burgundy which experienced an 18% increase in rainfall. However, there was a lag at the end of June, and rains set in for much of July and August, making it difficult for wine growers to manage vegetation while avoiding disease.
It wasn’t until mid-August that dry and sustained weather finally arrived, reducing disease-inducing humidity and allowing the berries to change color (veraison) and ripen regularly, Vins de Bourgogne said. . Pinot Noir, Gamay and Caesar were the first to ripen, although the stress caused by hail and frost on Chardonnay blanc took longer than usual to ripen.
The winegrowers hope that the good weather in August will enhance the quality of an otherwise difficult vintage.
François Labet, president of the Bureau interprofessionnel des vins de Bourgogne (BIVB) told Euronews that “yields are historically low”, adding that overall losses were between 30% and 50%, although there were large variations in the different zones, with up to 80% losses for the whites of the Côte de Beaune and -50% in the Chablis and Mâconnais.
Thiébault Huber, president of the Confédération des appellations et des vignerons de Bourgogne (CAVB) told Euronews that “we are going to make the smallest vintage that Burgundy has ever produced”.
According to the largest agricultural union in France, the National Federation of Farmers’ Syndicates (FNSEA), spring frosts could cost the industry up to 2 billion euros due to damage to budding vines.
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