The Gard Federation of IGP Wines announces the worst harvest ever

La Fédération gardoise des vins IGP, vigilante mais optimiste. MIDI LIBRE – Alissandre Allemand

While IGP du Gard wines are enjoying great success with consumers, the 2024 harvest is stretching out with its nine weeks of harvest and presents all the ingredients of a difficult vintage, starting with the loss of nearly 25% of production due to coulure and mildew. State of play.

Frank talk and convictions, an explosive combination that leaves no one indifferent when Denis Verdier, the president of the federation of IGP du Gard wines, expresses his deep concern about those who make wine.

At the traditional back-to-school press conference, surrounded by Christel Guiraud from the IGP Cévennes and Christophe Aguilar from the IGP Coteaux du Pont du Gard, the winegrower did not need to tremolo to paint a picture of a difficult year for the Gard winegrowing industry. Mildew, coulures after last year's drought. Result ? A huge loss in the vineyards. Some 25% fewer berries on average than last year in Languedoc-Roussillon, i.e. between 8.5 and 9 million hectolitres this year in the region compared to 11 million last year (which was already a mixed year). In the Gard ? "The smallest harvest ever seen : between 2 300 000 and 2 500 000 hectolitres compared to 3 200 000 for average years".

25 % loss on average in the vineyard

It is difficult for winegrowers not to recall their incomprehension at the refusal of exceptional exemptions regarding the use of certain products in order to treat in the event of an emergency. "Our presidents of the IGP Cévennes and Pont-du-Gard are organic, so of course the questions of agroecology are of real importance to us", insists Denis Verdier. The "die-hard" not being good in either direction, the winegrowers are calling for moderation and balance and hope to be heard by the government as soon as possible.

Because according to professionals in the sector, in the Gard as elsewhere, “People are getting discouraged. We are seeing more and more abandoned, fallow vines. Others are counting on grubbing-up premiums to hope to save their lives and not go bankrupt… The lack of hecto will inevitably cause those whose vineyards have been affected to lose money. Our colleagues from the Côtes-du-Rhône, some of whom have lost up to 50% of their production, but also those from the Aude or the Pyrénées Orientales, whose vines are disintegrating… Above all, it is time to reinvent agroecology and give winegrowers something to adapt to in the event of an attack."

Nine weeks of harvests

Added to this disarray is the fatigue of exceptionally long harvests. With the exception of a few cases of early picking, on August 5, most winegrowers began to bring in their berries around August 19 with the white grape varieties. "Usual harvest dates", according to the presidents. Since then, the rest of the program has been much more complicated, particularly due to the succession of rains that have disrupted the harvest schedule.

But also and above all because the winegrowers are careful to bring in their grapes when they are ripe and this year the ripening dynamics have been slow and chaotic. "If to date the harvest is ending on a majority of the territory on the Côtes-du-Rhône side, we hope to have finished in about ten days. In fact, in this terroir (north of Laudun), the maturity gap is greater and less than half of the reds are picked."

Nevertheless, the good news (and without a doubt for amateurs, not the least) is that the vintage is looking good. Very good. Whites and rosés should live up to their fine reputation. And on the red side, if the weather conditions have given winemakers a hard time, they have favored a nectar that is fresh on the palate, easy to drink and light. Which is exactly what consumers are asking for. It is a safe bet that since supply is less important than demand, the men and women who make wine will be able to perpetuate their art.