It was 107F in Champagne today

[Andrew_Hamilton]

Caviar > threads. Glad to see your priorities are in order Charlie!

[CFu]

Caviar > threads. Glad to see your priorities are in order Charlie!

Someone’s gotta keep the lights on!

Anyways, thread cleaned up.



If you disagree with the decision, please vote No in this thread

[Craig_G]

If you disagree with the decision, please vote No in this thread

Well, what’s our recourse if we already did???

[Mark_Golodetz]

The real concern is how long the heat wave will last. At these temperatures, the vines will shut down in order to preserve themselves, and no amount of irrigation will change that in the short term. This happened in our area in 2006 with extreme temperatures for quite some time in July. The vintage was not ‘ruined’, but it certainly changed what looked to be a vintage that would play out like 2005 - evenly spaced and allowing winemakers to ‘control’ picking decisions etc - into one that Mother Nature ruled the roost . . .

Cheers.

Larry, after the weather cools, how long is it before the vines are open again?

[Brian_Gilp]

The real concern is how long the heat wave will last. At these temperatures, the vines will shut down in order to preserve themselves, and no amount of irrigation will change that in the short term. This happened in our area in 2006 with extreme temperatures for quite some time in July. The vintage was not ‘ruined’, but it certainly changed what looked to be a vintage that would play out like 2005 - evenly spaced and allowing winemakers to ‘control’ picking decisions etc - into one that Mother Nature ruled the roost . . .

Cheers.

Larry, after the weather cools, how long is it before the vines are open again?

There isn’t any lag. Once the temps drop, the vines start working again. I forget the exact temp that they shut down but it’s common for vines in some areas to shut down for parts of a day during the hottest part of the year. As Larry stated, the risk is a prolonged heatwave in an area for which it’s not common that ends up changing the ripening pattern from what is normal.

Thinking out loud for a second, I’m not sure if the impact would be more or less pronounced when the final product is to be sparkling wine. Intuitively, I would think less since they are picked at lower brix and higher acid and spend no time on skins. Seems to me less of a worry since one isn’t as concerned with color and tannin and all the other products derived from skin contact.

[Casey_Hartlip]

I like the Jordan post showing pics of ‘neighbors’ Chardonnay grapes that got burned and theirs we’re not. Call me skeptical.

[Henry_Kiichli]

Landed in Paris yesterday. Had to go out onto the tarmac to catch connecting flight.

(42,6°C × 9/5) + 32 = 108,68°F

Heatwave: Paris suffers 42.6C hottest day ever as UK temperatures set July...

[Mark_Rushton]

IIRC, this is still no where near 2003. I was in France then in champagne and alsace and spoke to Olivier’s wife at Zind Humbrecht and they were close to harvesting in late July. And when at Krug, it was only cool in their cellars.

[David_Bu3ker]

2003 did not get quite so hot, but it lasted much longer.

[Dan_Kravitz]

English sparkling wine here we come

Scottish Sparkling wine, here we come. There are outcrops of chalk, time to plant them.

Dan Kravitz

[Dan_Kravitz]

The real concern is how long the heat wave will last. At these temperatures, the vines will shut down in order to preserve themselves, and no amount of irrigation will change that in the short term. This happened in our area in 2006 with extreme temperatures for quite some time in July. The vintage was not ‘ruined’, but it certainly changed what looked to be a vintage that would play out like 2005 - evenly spaced and allowing winemakers to ‘control’ picking decisions etc - into one that Mother Nature ruled the roost . . .

Cheers.

Larry, after the weather cools, how long is it before the vines are open again?

There isn’t any lag. Once the temps drop, the vines start working again. I forget the exact temp that they shut down but it’s common for vines in some areas to shut down for parts of a day during the hottest part of the year. As Larry stated, the risk is a prolonged heatwave in an area for which it’s not common that ends up changing the ripening pattern from what is normal.

Thinking out loud for a second, I’m not sure if the impact would be more or less pronounced when the final product is to be sparkling wine. Intuitively, I would think less since they are picked at lower brix and higher acid and spend no time on skins. Seems to me less of a worry since one isn’t as concerned with color and tannin and all the other products derived from skin contact.

The shutdown temperature for vines varies wildly by varietal. Riesling shuts down before Grenache.

Dan Kravitz

[Dennis_Atick]

Prevost: https://www.instagram.com/champagnelacloserie/

[CFu]

Prevost: https://www.instagram.com/champagnelacloserie/

Came here just to post that

Here’s a better link- Prevost said he lost 15-20% of the grapes from the heat

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0aN-cVn0kE9l7Fpldt65Q-oLZwDRPW4msBSvc0/?igshid=nj2c8icqfmc2

[Dennis_Atick]

Prevost: https://www.instagram.com/champagnelacloserie/

Came here just to post that

Here’s a better link- Prevost said he lost 15-20% of the grapes from the heat

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0aN-cVn0kE9l7Fpldt65Q-oLZwDRPW4msBSvc0/?igshid=nj2c8icqfmc2

Damn!

[ToddHansen]

That is sunburn … basically the vine, in the interest of self-preservation, has abandoned those berries and stopped providing them with water so they shrivel. I’ve seen it happen here in Oregon in 2015 on vines with western exposure and limited water availability on days with 100+ F temps. It is a discrete event - it doesn’t spread and happens very quickly.

When harvest arrives, those shriveled berries will be hard little bitter raisins. The good news (such as it is) is that when making a sparkling wine, there is no maceration as the grapes are pressed quickly after harvest so there will be no ill effects beyond reduced yields. When making a red wine where skins are macerated, those bitter, hard, underripe berries will soak up and their bitterness will appear in the wine if they aren’t diligently removed at the sorting line (although often they remain on the cluster when destemming).

Can the sunburned berries become initiation sites for rot like bird or yellow jacket damaged berries often are? I have some this year that I have been removing based on this assumption. But if I don’t have to worry about that then I will just leave them. All will go through a bunch sort to remove obvious rot and straight into the press. No crush and no time on skins.

The answer depends on the stage of development. In the case of the photo, the berries appear to be still quite low in sugar, so they should harden off in just a couple of days to where nothing will want to eat that little hard pebble. I wouldn’t worry about them.

[Marcu_Stanley]

That is sunburn … basically the vine, in the interest of self-preservation, has abandoned those berries and stopped providing them with water so they shrivel. I’ve seen it happen here in Oregon in 2015 on vines with western exposure and limited water availability on days with 100+ F temps. It is a discrete event - it doesn’t spread and happens very quickly.

When harvest arrives, those shriveled berries will be hard little bitter raisins. The good news (such as it is) is that when making a sparkling wine, there is no maceration as the grapes are pressed quickly after harvest so there will be no ill effects beyond reduced yields. When making a red wine where skins are macerated, those bitter, hard, underripe berries will soak up and their bitterness will appear in the wine if they aren’t diligently removed at the sorting line (although often they remain on the cluster when destemming).

This is interesting…have noticed a rough/bitter quality in the tannins of some 2003 Bordeaux, wonder if this explains it

[T_Klonoski]

Looks as if the heat wave has finally broken. Temps in the 80s in France the next ten days.