Drought, hail…: wine production in the Pyrénées-Orientales is in free fall

2023-11-08 11:10:30

The recent economic letter published by the Pyrénées-Orientales Chamber of Agriculture is unambiguous. The wine harvest is catastrophically low this year, given for 430,000 hectoliters, or an expected yield per hectare of 23 hectoliters, well below the break-even point. Roussillon has never descended so low due to drought and very localized hail phenomena.

But weather accidents combine with the decline in viticulture with 18,493 ha to be harvested compared to 35,600 ha at the end of the last century with a production of 1,300,000 hectoliters and an excellent average yield of 38 hectoliters per hectare. Fabienne Bonnet, president of the Chamber of Agriculture, does not hide her embarrassment at a situation which is putting several hundred producers in great financial difficulty. “We need to think about solutions for the future, irrigating the plots, setting up water reserves and undoubtedly work on the canals. An interministerial mission has just arrived at the prefecture. We expect a lot from their work to move forward on solutions for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. And in the immediate future, it is the economic problem posed to hundreds of producers and cooperative structures that must be taken into account,” believes the president.

At the same time, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau unveiled an aid plan for arborists and market gardeners whose plots have been mistreated by the climate of this year 2023. This plan provides for aid which can reach 1,000 euros per hectare for plantations of apricots, peaches or nectarines, 800 euros for apples, artichokes and zucchini, 480 euros for melons. This aid does not include wine production impacted by lack of water.

Up to 40% less harvest

In Rivesaltes, as in most wine-growing structures in the department, at the Arnaud De Villeneuve cooperative cellar, it is also time to take stock with a 25% drop in the harvest from 40,000 in 2022, the year already average at 31,000 hectoliters for these 2023 harvests. “The yield per hectare drops to 23 hectoliters. Some of our 170 members were particularly affected. They sometimes only harvested 40% on their plots,” explains Jean Pierre Papy, the director who juggles figures and the cellar’s ​​resources to arrive at a balanced balance sheet.

“Our luck you see is to have managed to convince the cooperative group Celliers du Soleil (4 cooperative cellars brought together in Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales) to entrust us with part of their winemaking. We are working this year to provide services for them, to the tune of 15,000 hectoliters to begin with, since our winemaking capacity is modern, adapted but oversized compared to our needs. It is this operation which will allow us to amortize part of the fixed costs of the cooperative and to consider maintaining the level of remuneration per hectoliter for the cooperators,” continues Jean-Pierre Papy.

Better still, these partners who left the powerful Vinadeis ship two years ago to strike out on their own will certainly be able to provide the 3,000 hectoliters that the cellar will lack to maintain its market positions, particularly in IGP Côtes Catalanes. This service was originally intended to put butter on the cooperators’ spinach. It became a thirst aid after the drought.