German and French vintners are harvesting their grapes weeks ahead of schedule following the heatwave that has affected much of Europe.
While many German farmers have complained that the hot and dry climate has damaged their crops, with yields of some, such as wheat, expected to be down by as much as 50%, vintners have seen reason to celebrate.
“We are extremely early with our harvest this year,” Ernst Büscher, from the German Wine Institute, told German media. “Historically speaking we’re around three weeks ahead of where we’d usually be.” Yields are also predicted to be considerably higher than usual.
The long, hot, period is expected to produce a better quality wine due to riper grapes with a higher sugar content and consequently a higher alcohol content as well, according to experts, who were poised to taste the much anticipated very young wine, or federweisser, when it was due to go on sale this weekend.
The early harvest puts German vintners on a good footing with their Italian colleagues. Usually imports of Italy’s young wines hit the German market about a month ahead of German ones. This year they will be in direct competition as they come on the market at a similar time.
But vintners also struck a note of caution, saying some grapes would be affected by excessive heat, which could cause the acid in the fruit to break down, giving the wine a stale taste.
In France, where grape harvests in some areas are also due to begin earlier than usual, winemakers in the southern Languedoc region said production levels were likely to be higher than last year.
The French agriculture minister, Stéphane Travert, said the 2018 grape output was expected to be higher than average following weather-related losses in production last year, including a late cold snap that slashed the local harvest in Bordeaux by 40%.
French wine critics expect this year to be a good vintage.
Sébastien Vaillant, a wine maker in Valençay in the Loire Valley, told France Bleu radio he expected “a very good vintage, with silkier and softer tannins”.
Because of the high levels of rain this spring, wine-growing regions in France had not had a drought. But hailstorms that hit vineyards in May had left a threat of mould, particularly for the organic winegrowers who do not use pesticides. The recent heat helped fight off the mould.
Only farmers of asparagus and strawberries have been as upbeat as German vintners over the heatwave. Elsewhere in Germany, farming representatives have called for the government to compensate them to the tune of €1bn (£890m) for the loss of revenues they expect due to the drought.
German beer producers have experienced a surge in business due to the hot weather, with people flocking to beer gardens and pubs. The World Cup also did much to boost sales, to the extent that brewers had to issue an appeal last week for consumers to return their bottles due to a shortage.
But brewers are gloomier about the longer term, due to this year’s failure of barley crops, which have suffered in the prolonged heat. Beer producers in northern Germany are predicting that yields of the crop – which is needed for malt – could drop by as much as 40%. Brewers are warning that at the very least costs will rise, which will have to be passed on to drinkers. The shortages are also being experienced elsewhere in northern Europe, particularly Scandinavia, in part due to its heatwave-related wildfires, and the Baltic states.
