Between mildew and drought, the vines are crying for help and the winegrowers with them in the former Languedoc-Roussillon

Les vendanges catalanes ont commencé, ici pour le Clos de Paulilles. MICHEL CLEMENTZ

Les chaleurs extrêmes favorisent le mildiou ou asphyxient la vigne. Et l’inquiétude grandit. Les vendanges, pour certaines parcelles de blancs, ont commencé cette semaine.

As the first harvests begin, in the climatic lottery, it is Hérault that seems to have drawn the best wine numbers this year. In the east, on the Gard and Vaucluse sides, mildew has wreaked havoc. In the west, on the Aude and Pyrénées orientales sides, it is the drought that is weighing down volumes and burning the vineyards. And in the middle flows a slightly calmer river, the Hérault, even if the heatwave is also causing damage there.

“We are counting on a normal harvest in Hérault“, underlines Jean-Pierre Van Ruys, the president of the IGP Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. For the Gard, on the other hand, it is a cold shower. The department could lose 15% of its production this year, predicts Denis Verdier, president of the Gard federation of IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) wines.

The cause: mildew. The eggs of this fungus proliferate on contact with humidity and heat. The rains of spring and early summer, associated with high temperatures, subjected the Gard to a quasi-tropical climate. A daydream for downy mildew. And an evolution out of control this year. "Never seen before in these proportions", assures this pillar of the wine industry who has nevertheless seen others.

Climate disruption is not good for anyone but the vines, in the south of France, digest it even less well than others. Extreme heat can ultimately spell the death of the vineyard. And when the degrees rise after heavy rains, the playground of mildew becomes an open-air cemetery.

"I have winegrower friends in Vaucluse, and others in the Loire that I know well, it's like the Gard, they've been through hell, sums up Julien Zernott, head of the Pas de l'Escalette estate in Hérault. It's all the more of a disaster because people are exhausted, they've spent weeks treating it."

"I don't know if we're going to spend two more years"

If Julien Zernott had to deal with a mildew attack at the beginning of July that wasn't bad but that we didn't see coming", he realizes the gamble he won by coming to settle in Terrasses du Larzac with his wife Delphine twenty years ago. They had looked towards Minervois, but global warming had… cooled them down.

"We are lucky to still have a little water“, he emphasizes. More than in the P.O… To the point, there, of closing the door? "I have friends who are asking themselves the question. They are doing what they can, for example terraces so that the water remains on the tenement. We will have to reinvent ourselves."

According to Jean-Pierre Van Ruys, the construction sites are open, from wastewater recycling to hill reservoirs and dams. For example, water releases are planned at the Salagou lake to irrigate plots of land. At one time, there was talk that the Aqua Domitia network, which supplies water drawn from the Rhône to agricultural land, would extend as far as Perpignan. For the moment, it has been content to push its pipes as far as the Béziers region.

Lottery but not entirely by chance

The lottery of the moment is not just the result of chance: the deeper we dive into the south of Europe, Aude and P.O in the lead facing towards the Spain, the more critical the climatic situation. In Corbières, at Château Villemagne in Lagrasse, Roger Carbonneau is more than worried: "I don't know if we're going to spend two more years". His daughter, who took over the operation, confirms: "We see the Syrah suffering, it's scary".

His father, at 78 years old, saw the water leave the vines like one loses blood: "40 years ago, we had all the difficulty in the world to go up to 12°, today we have all the difficulty in the world to be below 14°. The vine is a Mediterranean plant, but it still needs a little water. We should be able to store it intelligently without creating megabasins. Our elders made dams 200 years ago."

At the Plaine Haute estate in Vic-la-Gardiole. MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Ah, if a miracle could make the rain fall…

There are those who, like in the Pyrénées-Orientales, implore Gaudérique, the patron saint of Catalan farmers, for rain to fall. We haven't yet seen the Hérault winegrowers doing the rain dance, like the Indians, but their hearts are in it!

“Clearly, we are waiting for water“, Guillaume Baron says, halfway between a prayer and an express demand. The Clos de la Barthassade, in Aniane, is like the others, hanging on the lips of the sky spitting rain. “We had some until the beginning of June and since then almost nothing. The vintage started very well but we find ourselves with a really very dry summer." And beyond the water, it is the scorching temperatures that worry him.

“Within the same plot, there can be differences, with yellow leaves starting to fall. Some soils still manage to retain a little water, with old vines and good rooting.“

Guillaume and Hélène Baron began their harvest on Monday with Chardonnay, a very early grape variety picked around mid-August since the obvious effects of global warming. The localized storms at the end of the week may have done a little good here and there, but nothing earth-shattering.

“We are starting to see the scars of drought, it is not yet catastrophic but a storm would be welcome to allow for better ripeness“, confirms the president of the IGP Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Jean-Pierre Van Ruys.

Water is becoming a rare commodity: while Hérault could normally count on “600 to 800 millimeters per year, we are at around 400 in 2023 and 2024“, he specifies.

Pascal Vailhère, in Caux, started harvesting this week for sparkling wine ordered by the L'Ormarine winery. “We have just worked a plot where we harvested 35 tons while we had harvested 45 last year, 20% more. There was a lack of water in July and there is less juice."

Others are confident… Romain Guibert, at the Aniane Daumas-Gassac estate, announces conditions "ideal". The harvest should begin there on Monday, August 26. Rainy spring, beautiful heat in the wake, maturity on the agenda…

"All the lights are green, a week before the start for us, the health status is magnificent, he sums up. It should be a quality harvest, but so much can still happen in a few days and in particular too much heat."

Julien Zernott, on the outskirts of Lodève, is expecting a "rather good harvest for the Terrasses du Larzac". "I don't think there will be a big harvest but I have no right to complain", he continues. The atmosphere is not as cheerful everywhere.

The owner of a Hérault estate, under cover of anonymity, admits to “despair“. The investment, made a dozen years ago, is not profitable. And rather than end up with unsold bottles on his hands, he decided this year to sell part of his production in bulk to a cooperative winery.

The harvest has started for the whites and should begin at the end of August for the majority. MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

If only there were climatic glitches…

If only there were rain, drought and other climatic hazards! Red wine production (60% of the total in the region) has been halved in France in twenty years. And even if rosé and white are doing better, French consumption has also halved: from 46.7 bottles per inhabitant, it has gone to 22.5 bottles, all colors combined.

"Among the younger generations, wine no longer has the same role, insists Jean-Pierre Van Ruys. We have gone from daily consumption to a product that is drunk exceptionally. The premium wines that you find in wine merchants are growing because they are well valued, but the wines present in mass distribution are suffering, between – 20% and – 30%. The cooperatives that have contracted with the trade to produce a wine that corresponds to the market are resisting but for the others it is more complicated."

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