“The 2023 harvest is coming to a close in France. We need to prepare for adverse weather in 2024”

f “to govern is to plan ahead”, making wine is all about forward thinking. And the freak weather events of 2023 sounded alarm bells as to the industry’s ability to cope with severe water issues, be that excess rainfall or water shortages, downy mildew in South-West France or drought along the Mediterranean coastline. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude and Hérault departments in southern France, “there cannot be 2 or 3 vintages like this without losing 20 to 40% of acreage and producers”, warns Jean-Marie Fabre, chairman of the French independent wineries’ organisation. He is therefore backing plans to structure the wine industry’s resilience to climate change over the medium term.

This is not the first time Fabre has alerted stakeholders, he has been doing so for years and explains that there is no more time to waste: “There is a climate emergency, in the wine industry in particular and farming in general. We cannot spend any more time waiting, we need prevention resources”. Fabre is calling on the French government to protect the future of wine production, pointing out that by not taking immediate action, “we will implement schemes too late, with a loss of acreage and businesses”. His proposal involves taking stock of existing schemes that can currently be used, and comparing them with requirements in order to prioritise and strengthen resources.