Harvest in the vineyards of Cognac

This year, the volume of grape juice is not at the rendez-vous.

Compared to previous years the lack is often more than 30%. The vine has suffered from the weather with very dry passages. Fortunately, the rains of the week before the harvest gave in a few days a gain of 6 to 8 hl / ha (the volume of production of juice is measured in hectoliters per hectare), or 10% of the estimated harvest.

The weather is not only to explain the low harvest. Diseases seem to have gathered this year:
 Powdery mildew has affected 30% of the area
 Mildew explains a loss of almost 7% of the potential harvest.
 Golden flavescence gave by 5% loss on the harvest. Flavescence is transmitted by an insect
Wood diseases that are affecting more than 10% of the vineyard, double on last year, explain a decrease of 6% of the harvest.

You do not know these diseases ? Do not worry, we’ll talk soon about them and their impact on the vine.

Last but not least, to maintain naturally their wines, wine-makers need acidity in their grape juices. But the hot summer led to a rise in sugar in the grapes but a decrease in acidity.

The sequence of operations, particularly the distillation, will be delicate with low acidity wines. Distillation will start soon to get eaux-de-vie of high quality.

But this is another story …