Burgundy vines ‘two weeks ahead’

Burgundy’s growing season is already some two weeks ahead of itself due to a warm start to spring, prompting fears of frost damage.

After several vintages assailed by frost and hail and other problems, many producers in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or are hoping for a more bountiful crop this year.

However, compared to last year’s cold and slow start to the year, 2014 has seen a lot of sunshine and high temperatures, bringing the vines cycle forward.

The fear now is that a late frost between now and May could kill some of the slowly emerging buds and leading to a reduced crop once again.

“We need a big harvest this year. We need to replenish our stocks,” Emmanuel Guiroy, export manager of Pascal Bouchard in Chablis told the drinks business.

Anne Leroy-Baroin, marketing and communication manager for Bouchard Père et Fils, told db, “in the last three years we’ve lost, effectively, a whole harvest.

“We’re confronted with a big problem but there’s always a risk,” she concluded stoically.

Most producers, while confessing themselves a little “concerned” by this state of affairs, are aware of the dangers and what needs to be done, Nathalie Geoffroy, co-owner of Domaine Alain Geoffroy, saying: “We just need to be vigilant”.