The EU's failure to avoid the Trump administration's 15 percent import tariff on wine filled the French press towards the end of this week following several days of climate change talk in the press with stories of harvests starting early in various regions across the country coming in thick and fast.
The pickers were out in force across the country as the recent national heatwave brought grapes to maturity much faster than many were expecting (see below).
Meanwhile, French broadsheet Le Figaro tried to do its bit to counter falling national wine sales by listing its top wine influencers. After a cursory nod to Eric Asimov, James Suckling and Jancis Robinson, the paper listed homegrown talent Pascaline Lepeltier (sommelier and wine writer), Rajat Parr (sommelier and winemaker), Soil Pimp Robert Dentice, "one of the most respected American wine critics" Jon Bonné, and LA's "digital aesthete" Richard Miyake as top wine influencers in Instagram.
Apwasiwine's Clinton Lee, whose sensitivity to table etiquette would make a royal butler review his resumé (and whose apparent popularity puts paid to the notion that wine communicators need to be more approachable to the average consumer), took the top title for TikTok vids, while winemaker Émile Coddens and NY Somm The Wine Guru also got a look-in.
Meanwhile, here are some stories you might have missed this week:
In Alsace, the grape harvest has never started so early, with pickers out on Tuesday (19 August) to bring in grapes for Crémant production. According to news agency AFP, the harvest (for still, appellation-level) wines is set to begin on Monday (25 August).
"We've never got under way so early," said Gilles Ehrhart, president of the Winegrowers' Association of Alsace (AVA).
This was due to global warming, said radio station Europe 1, with a winegrower, identified only as "Pierre" telling telling listeners the harvest was "10-15 days earlier than expected", primarily down to hotter summers (and, this year in particular, significant heatwaves).
The previous record for the earliest harvest date was set in 2018, when secateurs were handed out in earnest on 22 August.
"There's basically 20-25 days' difference between now and 30 years ago," said Ehrhart. "We've pretty much gained a day per year over 30 years. It's linked to climate change."
AFP said some winegrowers had already started bringing in grapes prior to 19 August (the official harvest dates are set by the regional governing bodies) but that these wineries would need to seek (retrospective) permission from the country's appellation body (the INAO) to be allowed to release such wines commercially.
Heatwave sparks harvests in France
It was the same story on the opposite side of the country, with producers in Muscadet getting ready to bring grapes in any day now. Local newspaper Ouest France said winegrowers in the region were "urgently preparing for the harvest" and that "the grapes are almost ripe" due to the recent heatwave, which saw temperatures hit 37°C in Clisson last Saturday.
The 2025 harvest in Muscadet would not be the earliest on record – that title (for now) goes to the 2003 vintage which saw pickers in the rows on 19 August – but, according to François Robin of the regional wine body the Nantes Wine Federation, 2025 would be "one of the three earliest harvests in 40 years" for the region.
Slightly more to the east and the winegrowers in Anjou-Saumur were already under way, having started harvest on the same day as their counterparts in Alsace: Tuesday 19 August. Displaying what could be described as a flair for the laconic, Émilie Joyaux at the local wine trade body the Fédération Viticole Anjou Saumur, told Ouest France "it's been hot recently".
Joyaux said the heatwave had caused acid levels in the berries to drop significantly, prompting the harvest. He said this had been particularly the case in the south of the region. Here, though – like in Alsace – the harvest is for fruit headed towards the local bubbles: Crémant de Loire.
Cabernet d’Anjou and Rosé d’Anjou harvests are likely to follow soon.
Over in Champagne, the starting gun was fired on Wednesday (20 August) in the southerly Aude regions of the zone, although wine news website Vitisphere reported that some pickers had been in the vineyards even earlier.
AFP reported that Maxime Toubart, who is co-president of the regional winegrowers' trade body, said that "the vineyards are in a fantastic state, which means we can start the harvest with confidence and serenity".
Once again, climate change and the recent heatwave were given as reasons for the early start. Harvest dates are set regionally in Champagne, with the more northerly zones due to send the pickers out in early September.
The heatwave here, however, took on an extra element of discomfort given that numerous eyes are on the region following the much-publicised trial of contractors condemned for the appalling treatment of grape pickers, many of whom were immigrants, several weeks ago.
This harvest begins a month after three people were sentenced to prison for exploiting and housing around fifty workers, many of them undocumented, in appalling conditions during the 2023 harvest in the Champagne region," said the report.
"A trial for a similar case in Châlons-en-Champagne in 2023 is scheduled for late November," it added.
As noted last week (see "Bordeaux starts harvest following heatwave" in Angélus Goes into Administration), the Crémant harvest in Bordeaux is already under way.
Despite the horrific tales coming out of Galicia and reports of drought across the country, Spain was (at last count) looking forward to a better (quality and quantity) harvest than 2024. Nonetheless, agricultural insurance group Agroseguro says that 116,400 hectares of vineyard across the country have been affected by "inclement weather", primarily hail, earlier in the season.
The group said that frost hit vineyards in April, causing minor damage, before a wave of hailstorms swept through the country.
"May saw a massive hailstorm with extensive damage in Jumilla (Murcia), Utiel-Requena (Valencia), Rioja, and Navarra, and with 'greater coverage and frequency' in Castilla La Mancha," reported Madrid daily La Razón. "In June, there were daily hailstorms that destroyed 43,000 hectares, and in July, there was a severe storm with significant impact in La Rioja and Ávila."
Roughly one tenth of Spain's vineyard area – according to the stats – has thus been affected by weather this year. Nonetheless, 2025 is set to bear more fruit in the vines with nearly 18 percent less damage than in 2024.
SOUTH AFRICAN WINE SET FOR VALUE-DRIVEN FUTURE
Agroseguro says it is looking at around €61 millon in payouts to affected viticulturists this year, primarily in Castilla-La Mancha (€19.8 millon), Rioja (€15.5 millon) and Castilla y León (€8.9 millon).
Jerez white wines take next step to appellation status
The producers of unfortified dry white wines known as Vinos de Pasto in the fortified wine-dominant region of Sherry are set to take the next step on the road to establishing an official appellation title.
Next month, the producer group that is driving the move, which has been on the cards for the last three years, will present its plans for a future Designation of Origin (Denominación de Origen) title to the Consejo Regulador de los vinos de Jerez y la Manzanilla de Sanlúcar – the ruling trade body that oversees production in the region.
According to local newspaper El Conciso and numerous other reports, the bid will see producers drop "pasto" (roughly translated as "pasture") and adopt a name on the lines of "Vinos de Albariza" or "Viñedos de Albariza" – a reference to the chalky-white "albariza" soils of the region.
Where appropriate, producers will also be able to add subregional and town or village names to the wine labels, such as Macharnudo-Jerez, Miraflores-Sanlúcar or Burujena-Trebujena. The overall production area and permitted grape varieties of the nascent dry white title will be identical to that of Sherry.
"The specifications allow for more freedom [...] in the winemaking field, as it envisages the production of wines with or without sun-drying the grapes, with or without aging under a veil of flor, with or without fermentation in barrel, with or without aging in wood," said El Conciso. "[It also] left open the possibility of producing naturally sweet wines – those to which no alcohol is added."
The bid will likely find a receptive audience at the Consejo Regulador.
"After a very long warm-up, it's time to get the ball rolling and let the game begin," said the president of the Consejo, César Saldaña.
Talks will begin in September with a view to rounding off the final documentation before officially requesting the green light from Brussels.
A "plague" of woodpigeons has descended on the Balearic Island of Ibiza, eating grapes on the vine and generally causing the island's viticulturists – which were looking forward to a better harvest than last year's drought-affected crop – major headaches.
Normally more of a problem in the southern hemisphere, it is unusual to hear of birds eating grapes on the vine in Europe but regional newspaper Diario de Ibiza told readers winegrowers were battling with a "plague" of grape-eating woodpigeons.
"The wood pigeons have been very tough," celebrated winemaker Álvaro Pérez Navazo of Bodegas Can Rich told the publication.
In Formentera, Jose Abalde of Terramoll said some red grape plots had lost between 50 and 70 percent of their crop to the birds.
The publication said a range of countermeasures (including playing sound recordings of birds of prey) had been deployed but, for those that could afford them, nets had so far been the most effective. The wood pigeon headache comes as growers were preparing to bring in a good crop following three successive years of drought-affected harvests.
Although the region remains very dry currently, rain in the winter months and earlier in the season had topped-up the vines much more effectively than in previous years. If the pigeons can be kept at bay, the region should enjoy a good harvest – although some said a little rain would still be welcomed.
The little-known Spanish IGP (Protected Geographical Indicator, or PGI) of Castelló, in northern Valencia, is set to bid for appellation (DOP) status with the provincial government propping up the region's upgrade to the tune of €15,000.
The subsidy is part of a regional push to go for the higher appellation status, which would recognise "the quality and uniqueness of the wines produced in the wineries of the province of Castellón", according to provincial head Marta Barrachina.
Primary sector representative Sergio Fornas told Valencian wine news website 5barricas, the money would "cover the Technical Secretariat of the Castelló PGI, which is on the final draft of the document following the instructions of the Ministry of Agriculture so that the transition from PGI to DOP is eventually approved".
The small IGP, which spans the province of the same name just north of Valencia city on the Mediterranean coast, was established in 2003. It spans a range of wine styles, including late-harvest, fortified and sparkling wines, with a wide range of permitted grape varieties (17 red and 19 white).
The area currently boasts 14 wineries and vineyard area is expected to grow in the next few years to cover 8000 hectares (nearly 20,000 acres). Regional bigwigs expect the transition to DOP will only help the region's profile.
"We could gain greater visibility in the cultural market both within and outside our country," said Barrachina.
