Domaine HylariVincorrigible Rosé

The focus of the symposium, unsurprisingly, was on the challenges posed by climate change. As if to illustrate the immediacy of the threat, the symposium took place during a heatwave, with temperatures of over 40°C  in Bordeaux and extreme weather events recorded across the coountry: parts of southwest France saw violent storms and winds of 112kph on the evening of 20 June, while vineyards across the Médoc and St-Emilion were damaged by hailstones ‘the size of golfballs’. As Olivier Bernard of D ...

Bordeaux will produce the least wine in six years in the 2023 harvest, after Merlot grapes in particular were ravaged by downy mildew, according to data from the French agriculture ministry. By contrast, Burgundy and the Loire Valley are heading for vintages that are likely to be among the biggest of the past decade. While overall French wine production is forecast to fall 2% to 45 million hectoliters, close to the five-year average, various growing areas had contrasting fortunes, the French agr ...

National production from France’s wine harvest in 2023 has been estimated between 44 million and 47 million hectolitres this year, up from 45.4 million hectolitres in 2022. That would be in line with, or exceed, the five-year average. France appears to be doing better than Italy and Spain, which expect below-average volumes. Still, the French agriculture ministry emphasised the preliminary nature of its forecast, citing uncertainty around damage from downy mildew in Bordeaux and southwest ...