Si le vin disparaissait de la production humaine, il se ferait dans la santé et dans l’intelligence un vide, une absence plus affreuse que tous les excès dont on le rend coupable.
- Charles Baudelaire
Back to the vineyard this weekend for les vendanges (grape harvest). Hands calloused and muscle aches all over my body that I didn’t know was possible. But what a great time to pull together and get one’s hand mucky in nature.
The 2022 vintage bears the stamp of a series of heat waves illustrating the reality of climate change. It’s a reality all farmer and wine-makers have to accept and increasingly adapt to.
In mid-June, early July and early August, there was a series of heat waves, whose effects were partly mitigated by welcome rainfall at the end of June – though unfortunately with some hail – and in mid-August.
The early onset of the heat and water stress from mid-June allowed the fruit to prepare itself for the hot weather that ensued – the skins thickened, mitigating the sunburn and wilting that were expected in July and August. Soaring to extreme temperatures – including the current harvest period, which is very hot by day and by night – the vintage is nonetheless reassuring.
