Bad harvest puts a cork in overproduction at Bordeaux vineyards

The prospect of a poor harvest would normally send Bordeaux’s hard-pressed winemakers into a panic, but this year many hope it will benefit them by helping to eliminate excess claret production in a shrinking market.
“This is rather a good thing because it should in fact help to rebalance supply and demand,” Christophe Château, of the CIVB, the Bordeaux winemakers’ association, told Sud-Ouest, a regional newspaper.
However, he added: “This is a macroeconomic vision. On the microeconomic scale, the situation will definitely create difficulties for producers.”
Bordeaux has been adversely affected by a global slump in the demand for red wines, while bad weather and diseases such as mildew have repeatedly afflicted the region’s vineyards. Some producers have been ripping up their vines, encouraged by financial incentives offered by the government in an attempt to curb overproduction.
Heavy rainfall in the spring and early summer caused severe mildew outbreaks for the second consecutive year. “Never before have I seen a vineyard in such a state,” Jean-Samuel Eynard, a winegrower whose vines have been badly affected, said.
“We’ve had an incredible amount of rain and we’re heading for a very bad harvest. It’s going to be a very difficult year,” Eynard, who heads the FDSEA, a local farmers’ union, added.
Christian Gourgourio, an organic winemaker who has lost about 80 per cent of his crop to mildew, said: “I’ve never seen such early attacks. It’s demoralising.”
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Some winemakers are considering replacing merlot grapes with other varieties that are less prone to mildew, such as malbec and cabernet franc.
Vineyards that make low-end clarets, selling for under €10 a bottle, have been in crisis for years, but now some of Bordeaux’s grandest châteaux are also struggling.
Drinkers have been turning away from full-bodied, tannic reds, preferring lighter, fruitier wines. China, once one of Bordeaux’s most profitable markets, is losing its thirst for claret.
Some Bordeaux winemakers are starting to plant olive trees instead of vines in the hope of profiting from growing international demand for olive oil. Climate change poses an existential threat to Bordeaux’s vineyards, which are being forced to experiment with new grape varieties, but it has made the region more favourable for olive cultivation.