French winemakers in a race against time because of climate change

The first sign of this is the earlier start of the grape harvest – it was withdrawn one month earlier.

Time does not wait! French winemakers want to take action to adapt their vineyards and ways of working to climate change, which is being confirmed year after year.

“We are at a turning point. Climate change is here, we are seeing it, we are enduring it,” Jerome Despe, director general of the main agricultural union, the National Federation of Agricultural Workers (FNSEA), told AFP.

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The first sign of this is the earlier start of the grape harvest – it was withdrawn one month earlier for 50 years, notes Christophe Riou, Deputy Director of the French Institute of Viticulture and Enology (IFV). Added to this is the trend towards premature budding of the vineyards, which makes them more vulnerable to late frosts, such as this year in April. In addition, there are strong summer heats that burn the leaves in the southern regions, and there are periods of drought.

Following extensive research that began in 2017, the wine sector will present a report to the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Julien Donormandi, at the end of August, proposing “7 guidelines and 40 actions”, said Jerome Despee, himself a winemaker from the Hérault department. in the South of France.

The economic stakes are huge. France is the second largest wine producer in the world (46.6 million hectoliters in 2020), after Italy. It is also the largest exporter of wine in value (8.7 billion euros in 2020), according to the International Organization of Viticulture and Enology (OIV).

The sector has four options: to do nothing special, to innovate to stay in the current territories, to move the vineyards to cooler areas, or to remove all existing rules.

According to Jerome Despree, the best case scenario is innovation, which will preserve the value of the French wine sector.

Christoph Riou, for his part, said that adapted “plant material” with later varieties should be introduced in order to restore previous harvest periods and produce more balanced wines.

Global warming is the reason for the production of heavier wines, richer in alcohol and with less fine taste.

In the southern wine region, Languedoc is experimenting with Greek and Italian vine varieties, which are later and more drought-resistant than local varieties. However, the creation of such new vineyards takes fifteen years to reach a result, as several crosses of the species have to be made.

Access to water is another major challenge for the survival of vineyards at high temperatures.

Wine producers in France do not want to wait and can now begin to change their methods of work: soil management, grassing, pruning, planting trees, experts advise. A detailed analysis of the terrain is also needed to find cooler areas.

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