I was in Bordeaux two days ago and it was hot. We stayed at Clos de la Barbanne. Without AC, none of us could sleep well at night. Interestingly, we had not seen any raisins yet, as we went to Montrose, Mouton, Pichon Baron, and Troplong Mondot for tastings
We scoff at those low temps here in Oregon.
90, 91, 96, 98, 97
Yesterday, today, next 3 days.
Jim,
No negative affects from those high temps on your Pinot? I guess it depends on many factors…
Still early. Checked vineyards last 2 days and saw minimal sunburn in anything we get. Saw a vineyard we do not get fruit from that had some pretty bad situations going on. Depends how you farm. Wish it would rain a bit but not too worried at this point. Still early.
My understanding is the low temp at night is much more important than the high temperature at day…
Sounds like you don’t have a lot of experience with the 2003 vintage in France and Italy.
Looks like slightly cooler weather and some rain for the next 2 weeks in Burgundy.
Let’s hope the death toll isn’t as appalling as it was in 2003, when 14,800 people died in France alone of heat-related causes, and an estimated 35,000 across Europe (citation).
In 2003, in France, the emergency rooms were not air-conditioned. Stressed elderly people went there and instead of being helped, died of the heat. It was shameful. Since then, they have air-conditioned hospitals. Since then, there have been many fewer deaths due to heat waves–and last summer in France was not exactly crisp. I did hear on the French news a couple of days ago, though, that the emergency rooms were having trouble accommodating all the people who were coming to them, so there may be problems.
kind of amazing when you think about it…no AC in French emergency rooms until now? In 2016 I sweated through a hot week in late July in Burgundy. Seems the grapes that survived the frost did pretty well.
The problem in Burgundy is, as Josh Grossman said, the night time lows, which have been in the mid to high 70s. Put that together with mid to high 90’s daytime highs, and the average over the last week (avg of day and night temps) is the mid 80s. That’s a high day/night average for that long. The other problem is vineyard/vine/row layouts and leafing/fruit exposure that works well in cool temps tend not to work well when its a heat wave. Course, they have a lot of old vines, and that always makes things better.
The night temps in Bordeaux (over the last week) have been in the low 60s or high 50s, which is typical, so that’s not so much a problem. Besides, it’s cab (sauv).
No, they had the problem addressed within a couple of years. The French were truly ashamed at what happened in 03.
Wouldn’t humidity possibly create fungal issues? That would seem the worst of both worlds for the wines.
Eric,
Indeed the night time temps in the 70s are going to wreck havoc on the acidities for this harvest if it continues like this. Bordeaux is certainly benefitted by wind and proximity to the Atlantic there. I’d imagine that burgundy would be wishing for lower night time temps badly right now. Im also guessing these temps will create problems for Chardonnay producers as well.
FYI it’s currently raining in the whole region…will visit in a couple of weeks time before harvest, which I believe is currently expected to be end of August for the whites and beginning of September for the reds.
Yes, high humidity increases mildew pressure but only within the optimal temp ranges. Temps in the 90s will hinder powder. In my experience temps in the 90s have less of an impact on Downy.
I’m not sure how extensive night time temps in the 70s impact acidity. It does lessen it but those high nighttime temps seem to accelerate ripening without sugar accumulation allowing earlier harvest at lower brix such that the impact on acids isn’t as severe. This is based on my own experience with grape growing in Maryland where those temps and humidity levels are normal. I don’t know if this translates to other regions where these conditions are rare vice normal
I find things like this just utterly mind boggling. I’ve lived in various parts of Texas my whole life, and while it is oppressively hot, we have tremendous heat management systems. For instance, most decent size two story homes have 2 14-17 sear central AC units and enclosed garages. Most downtown office buildings in large metropolitan areas have underground parking. Houston and Dallas have air conditioned underground tunnels in the central business district so workers can avoid heat (or rain). I can literally wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep and never set foot in a non air conditioned area. It’s 67-68 at night in my house while I sleep, even when it’s 106 during the day outside and 90 at 10:30 pm. My commute yesterday was in 88 degree heat at 8:00 AM. For perspective on these heat waves, about two weeks ago the Dallas weekly highs were between 104 and 109 every day, with lows in the high 80s
Once again, the French had their emergency rooms AC-d by 04 or so. It is certainly true that most private homes and many hotels, however, still are without AC in my experience. It’s also true that summer heat like that in Texas is considered a noticeable heat wave, not an event of every summer, even in the south of France. That may have to change, though, with global warming, in which pretty extreme heat and draught is becoming quite usual. It may even bring more widespread AC.
Can’t compare Texas to relatively cooler places in Europe (or anywhere else). Without AC, you probably wouldn’t even have the large cities you have in Texas, no? My in-laws place in east San Diego county gets into the 90s all the time, and 100s enough times during the summer, yet they only installed AC a few years ago. Most older homes in the Bay Area don’t have AC, because we just don’t need it most of the time (we don’t have it, though on those few summer nights where it just doesn’t cool off I wish we did). Same with much of Europe, where temps are (or were) pretty reasonable, until they aren’t. But I agree that in this day and age places like hospitals should have AC.
BTW, not to get political, but all that AC everywhere is contributing massive amounts of CO2 through the energy production used to provide the electricity.
Exactly. Few parts of Europe have the combination of very high temperatures and humidity that most of the US has in the summer.
Moreover, the rest of the world is not nearly as profligate with energy as we are. You don’t really need to keep your bedroom at 67-68F when it’s 90F+ outside.
Yep. I actually find the heat to be worse when I’m in DC or NYC in the summer because I have to walk outside so much. In Houston I just walk to and from my car or through the tunnels when downtown. For me, the worst time in Texas is September when everyone else starts experiencing Fall and we still have 100 degree days.