Date£º
2014-09-05 09:09 Source£º
winesearcher Author:
Claire Adamson Translator:
The French harvest will soon get underway, with officials from Champagne and the Rhone Valley announcing that picking will begin early next week.
Growers in Champagne are expected to lead the charge, beginning with vineyards in the Aube area. Picking is expected to begin on September 8, and will continue throughout the month in the rest of the carefully regulated appellation.
Despite some inclement weather early in the season, the 2014 vintage has been favorable overall in the region, especially compared to the poor 2012 and 2013 vintages. Production in Champagne is now expected to increase by 20 percent above the five-year average due to the season's weather patterns.
Picking levels were set in July at 10.5 tonnes per hectare (4.7 tons per acre).
At the peak of harvest, some 120,000 seasonal workers will gather in grapes from Champagne's 34,000ha (84,000 acres) of vineyards in the departments of Aube, Aisne, Marne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne.
In the Rhone Valley, harvest is expected to begin as early as September 10 in the southern part of the appellation, and a couple of weeks later in the north. Inter Rhone, the region's viticultural trade organization, is very optimistic about the 2014 vintage, which promises to be better than that of the previous five years.
A statement from Inter Rhone assured consumers: "A year without real water stress and balanced development of all varieties promises quality and quantity for the Cotes-du-Rhone and the Rhone Valley harvest."
Growers in the Rhone cannot rest on their laurels just yet, however, as a rainy period now could still spell disaster for the ripening grapes.
Both the Rhone Valley and Champagne regions have escaped much of the hail that has severely hindered yields in Burgundy and in parts of the Languedoc-Roussillon region.