The forest fires south of Bordeaux this summer never reached the wine regions. But les canicules, the heat waves, were bad.
David Stannard at Paradise Rescued, a small winery in Cardan in the Entre-deux-Mers region, has lived in Australia for a long time and is used to very warm weather. Still, even he thinks this was quite a summer and warmer than many he has seen recently in Melbourne. This was his comment on his Bordeaux harvest, shortly before it kicked off:
“There has been a complete disconnect between the weather and the type of fauna/vegetation that grows in this beautiful corner of the world. The trees in our front garden have already lost 80% of their leaves. Many vines have required emergency resuscitation with a small amount of (legal) water. I used a watering can, which saved a few young merlots from total elimination. The drought has been a greater problem than the heat. The merlot harvest will be on September 6 and the cabernet franc a week later. The dates remain under daily review.”
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Travel: Come on a wine tour to Bordeaux with BKWine. (PS: We’ve written a prize-winning book on Bordeaux.)
