The biddies continue their harvest reporting with a first stop in France and discuss the 2022 French wine harvest. Tune in to hear all about the 2022 vintage and what you can expect when these wines hit the shelves.

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Sources:

What Wine Investors Should Look For in 2022 Harvest? | En Primeur (vin-x.com)

2022 Champagne Harvest: A Splendid and Promising Vintage – Wine Industry Advisor

France Expects Larger 2022 Wine Harvest – Decanter

Harvest Notes from France – Skurnik

Five countries reporting an early harvest in 2022 (thedrinksbusiness.com)

Europe’s 2022 Vintage a Taste of Things to Come | Wine-Searcher News & Features

Image of candles being used to prevent frost harm to grapes: https://www.dailysabah.com/gallery/anti-frost-candles-burn-in-frances-vineyards-to-save-buds-flowers/images

Study Notes for French Wine Harvest:

*Please note some of these lines might be directly taken from sources noted above.

GENERAL

  • 2021 vintage harvest very small, 2022 better – up to 21% more yield 
    • Languedoc’s Fitou even began picking on July 24
  • 2022 schedule running early
  • Dry season, driest since 1959
  • Record droughts and wildfires
  • A dress rehearsal for the vintages to come
    • They will be earlier
      • Richord Geoffroy (former chef de cave of Dom Perignon – “global warming is now a confirmed fact”

CHAMPAGNE

  • Began harvest Aug 20
    • Timing of harvest is guided by Reseau Matu – a network of hundreds of representative vineyard plots spread across the appellation
    • This data allows the Comite Champagne to track and analyse the progress of grape ripening in real time
  • Sixth harvest in the past 20 years to start in August
  • Drought over the summer but well-timed rain near harvest
  • Good crop
  • Minimal losses from frost in early 2022
  • “The Champagne winegrowers and Houses are delighted by this magnificent harvest.”

BURGUNDY

  • Issues with frost in April, but not as bad as 2021. Use of candles at night to warm the grapes
  • Cost of candles could drive up prices of wines
  • Due to climate change burgundy wines are becoming more expensive to produce
  • Cautiously optimistic 
    • Plenty of sunshine hours but didn’t quite hit as hot as Bordeaux

BORDEAUX

  • Harvest used to start in mid september and is happening earlier than ever now
  • Growing concerns about increasing fires
    • Fires laid waste to over 20,000 hectares of forest in Bordeaux
  • Possibility of smoke taint for wines made from grapes in vineyards near fires – Liber Pater vineyards perhaps the only one close enough to fires to be affected
  • Faced with heatwaves and drought, winemakers in parts of Bordeaux, including the Pomerol appellation, have been given special permission to irrigate some vineyards this year.

ALSACE

  • Drought affected this region more than others resulting in a lower yield
  • The average weight of bunches was below the 10-year average, particularly for Gewürztraminer

BEAUJOLAIS

  • We began on September 1 in Beaujolais and finished on September 7th.  The vintage quality is really outstanding, and the quantity is good, but not great. We ended up somewhere between 35 to 40 hph. We have very good acidity and balance and considering some of the small harvests of recent years, I feel fortunate with a decent volume and wines that are very aromatic and balanced.

LOIRE

  • I am really thinking this is turning into a magical year. The weather the last week has been absolutely perfect, with sun and cool nights that are translating into perfectly healthy vineyards. The rain we had early last week was about 60 mm and the soil at the time was so extraordinarily dry, this was both a lot and nothing. The miracle of this rain was that it dropped in a way that did not damage the grapes. It may have helped a tiny bit with the overall balance of the grapes, but with the terrior so dry, it really just soaked in with minimal effect. The grapes already had a decent amount of juice, but some of them were not fully ripe yet. The perfect weather since then has allowed us to slowly continue to pick every parcel with real precision. There are many parcels like Clos de Venise and Clos de Bretonniere where we were able to do 2 to 4 pass throughs. It’s amazing how uneven some of these places have been in terms of attaining balance. Clos Michet is typically one of our earliest ripening sites and we still haven’t finished harvesting it. We will probably finish tomorrow or the next day.

RHONE

  • Typical of many of the regions this year, quantity decent but exceptional quality

PROVENCE

  • Kicked off ten to fifteen days earlier than 2021
  • Healthy fruit in good volumes to be expected
  • First fruit picked August 8 in the earliest ripening areas (Cotes de Provence, Coteaux d’Aix en Provence, Coteaux Varois en Provence
  • Heat and water stress – still great potential

TAKE AWAYS

  • Sounds like overall a high quality year
  • Everyone harvested earlier than average

Image of candles warming vineyards to prevent frostbite: https://www.dailysabah.com/gallery/anti-frost-candles-burn-in-frances-vineyards-to-save-buds-flowers/images