The pickers of certain communes in Aube will be able to get to work at the start of the week. An early date, nevertheless later than in 2020.
The harvest in the Champagne vineyards will be able to start on Monday in certain communes of Aube, an early date linked to a hot and dry summer, nevertheless later than in 2020, announced Saturday the Champagne Committee, which is delighted with a evolution “ideal“. The pickers will be able to get to work from Monday August 22 in certain communes of Aube and will be followed over the following days by Marne, Haute-Marne, Aisne and Seine-et-Marne – where three villages are part of the appellation.
The dates for the start of the authorized harvest are staggered according to the towns until September 5, ie a kick-off a fortnight earlier than last year. In the Aube, some farms had obtained exemptions to give the first blows of secateurs from Thursday 18. “It is the eighth harvest that starts in August since 2003, it becomes not the rule, but frequent“Commented to AFP David Chatillon, co-chairman of the Champagne Committee.
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«We are in the ideal curve, with moderate water stress, and we must not forget that the vine is a Mediterranean plant, water stress is good for it.“, he added. “We can not dream of better, in quantity and quality“, he congratulated himself, noting that for the next few days, the weather forecast predicts “some rain, chilly nights“. The year 2021 had been trying for the Champagne vineyards, which had not experienced such a low harvest linked to climatic hazards – frost and hail in the spring then rainy summers and attacks of mildew – since the 1950s.
The previous year, in 2020, the harvest had been exceptionally early, starting in some communes as early as August 20. At the end of July, the executive office of the Champagne Committee, bringing together winegrowers and large houses, decided to set the yield for the 2022 harvest at 12,000 kilos per hectare, its highest level for fifteen years. “After the sequence of 2020 where we had a large harvest but low needs given the economic situation (linked to the health crisis, editor’s note) and 2021 where we had a small harvest and significant needs, this year, we are blessed, we have quantity and quality“, summed up David Chatillon.
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