Faced by a slump in sales in the first half of the year, Beaujolais winegrowers who depend on exports for around half their turnover, are hoping that forecasts of an exceptional 2003 harvest will come true.
After three months of extremely hot, dry and sunny weather, harvesting could begin as early as August 25, the earliest harvest since 1893, the Beaujolais Wines Interprofessional Union (UIVB), said this week. Last year harvesting began on September 7.
And because of the sunny and hot conditions, the 2003 vintage, like other French wines, is expected to be extraordinary.
This year’s weather should produce ”a great vintage,” the union said, ”on condition that current weather continues until the end of summer”.
That would be good news as sales of Beaujolais fell 20% in the first six months of the year, the association said.
”I have rarely seen such fresh vines in such heat,” said grower Dominique Piron, who produces Villie-Morgon and is in charge of technical problems for the union. The vines, ”which are sending roots several metres down in search of cold”, are not suffering from the heat.
Experts say winter rains and recent storms have left sufficient ground water for the vines while the current drought favours the concentration of grape juice — thus enhancing its taste ‒ by decreasing the water content.
”If it doesn’t rain too much in August we’re looking at the same conditions that produced the 1945 and 1947 vintages”, said Piron.
At the moment however, winegrowers face falling sales for bottles of 2002 due to a slump in wine consumption which is attributed both to tougher French drink-driving measures and tighter domestic spending following the adoption of the euro.
Over-production of wine worldwide, the war in Iraq and the fall in the dollar have also hit turnover in the Beaujolais, where 50% of sales are for export, the association said.
”Today some of our American customers try to bargain the price while the Japanese are buying less,” said Piron, who sells 30% of his wine abroad.
Beaujolais growers, he added, were worse hit by economic problems than other French wine regions because Beaujolais wines had to be sold quickly. ”Our Gamay vine produces wines that are drunk when relatively young, so when our sales dry up for two or three months it’s a real worry.”
Regional winegrowers aim to adopt a charter soon, setting new guidelines for more rigorous production conditions in order to improve the image and standard of Beaujolais wines and increase sales.
Last year, to improve quality, the Beaujolais producers’ union announced it was withdrawing about 11,5-million liters of lesser-quality wine from the market — eight percent of the total regional output — due to overproduction. – Sapa-AFP