Grapes for Burgundy wines now ripen TWO WEEKS earlier than in the 80s

Grapes for Burgundy red wines now ripen TWO WEEKS earlier than they did in the 80s as climate change continues to cause soaring global temperatures

  • Researchers collated archival records of wine harvests going back 664 years
  • Since 1988 grapes in Beaune, in France’s Burgundy region, have ripened early 
  • Harvest dates advanced by 13 days on the norm for the previous six centuries
  • The data shows clearly the impact of climate change, the researchers said

Grapes from the vineyards of Burgundy have been ripening over two weeks earlier since the late eighties than was normal across the last six centuries.

The shift in the grape’s development on the vine is down to the increase in hotter and drier climates during the growing season brought about by climate change.

A team of French, German and Swiss experts had painstakingly collated archival data on historical wine harvest dates going back 664 years in total. 

As grapes are highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall conditions, the date on which vines are harvested can serve as an indicator of the corresponding climate.

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Grapes from the vineyards of Burgundy have been ripening over two weeks earlier since the late eighties than was normal across the last six centuries (stock image)

Climate scientist Thomas Labbé of Leipzig University in Germany, environmental historian Christian Pfister of the University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues collated and analysed vineyard harvest records dating back as far as 1354. 

To assemble harvest dates for Beaune — the wine capital of Burgundy —the team painstakingly scoured assorted unedited archival sources, including newspaper reports, city council records and information of wages paid to grape pickers.

The result is the longest record of grape harvests ever reconstructed.

The researchers found that, since 1988, grapes in Burgundy have been picked an average of 13 days early than they had been in the previous six centuries.

Burgundy’s hotter and drier climate in recent years is at the root of this advancement, the researchers said. 

‘We did not anticipate that the accelerated warming trend since the mid-1980s would stand out so clearly in the series,’ said Professor Pfister. 

‘The record is clearly divided in two parts,’ said Dr Labbé. 

Before 1987, vineyards in Beaune were typically picked from around September 28 inwards each year — however, harvests are now begging from around September 15.

The results suggest that hot and dry years were uncommon in the past, but in the last three decades have switching to being the norm.

In those years in which the spring–summer growing season is hot and dry, grapes end up ready to be harvested earlier than in colder years.

To assemble harvest dates for Beaune — the wine capital of Burgundy —the team painstakingly scoured assorted unedited archival sources. Pictured, a page from the accounting books of the Church of Notre-Dame of Beaune, dating back to the year 1385

As grapes are highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall conditions, the date on which vines are harvested can serve as an indicator of the corresponding climate

Finally, the team compared the most recent 360 years of their harvest data with detailed temperature record taken in Paris over the same period.

From this, they could estimate Beaune’s April–July temperatures across the entire 664 years covered by their grape harvest records.

‘The transition to a rapid global warming period after 1988 stands out very clearly,’ said Professor Pfister.

‘The exceptional character of the last 30 years becomes apparent to everybody.’

‘We hope people start to realistically consider the climate situation in which the planet is at present,’ he concluded. 

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Climate of the Past.

To assemble harvest dates for Beaune — the wine capital of Burgundy —the team painstakingly scoured assorted unedited archival sources, including newspaper reports, city council records and information of wages paid to grape pickers

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