Wines in Aude, southern France, may lack aroma and colour this year

onsultant winemaker Matthieu Dubernet delivered a chilling report following analyses conducted by his team at the eponymous laboratory. At a meeting of Aude independent winegrowers, he stated, “Climate change is blatant in our desert-like vineyards around Narbonne”.

Despite drought conditions over the autumn of 2022 and summer of 2023, vines exited winter with good sugar reserves. “Bud burst and great cluster formation in the spring saved this year’s production”, said Dubernet before listing a lot of bad news: “The soils did not function at the beginning of the year. Since 2015, the year we began our analyses on petioles, we have not seen such low nitrogen levels at bunch closure and veraison”.

Despite the concentration induced by drought conditions over the past few days, Dubernet warned attendees of the risk of low levels of available nitrogen in must and aroma faults in the resultant wines. “Unlike 2022, wines in 2023 could have very low aroma levels”, he claimed.

Dubernet subsequently explained that low phosphorus levels were not able to support photosynthesis and development of the canopy. “Poor soil functioning also had an impact on calcium. Acidities plummet rapidly, the berries have a tendency to wilt and the grapes will not be able to ripen over extensive periods of time”.