French winegrowers are not panicking, but finding solutions to climate change

Climate projections have encouraged us to become proactive. Climate change is causing us problems, and we are adapting. Due to the frequency of frosts, we installed a wind turbine, which paid for itself in the first year, in 2021. During heat waves, we work early in the morning and finish at midday. We harvest by night, have introduced cover crops and use tillage beneath the vines. This year, despite the drought and our fairly dry vineyard sites, we produced beautiful grapes”. Benoît Cadart is a winegrower in Meusnes in the Loire Valley. His family farm was one of the pilot sites for the Climenvi programme, which saw researchers and technicians working on agro-climatic indicators and projections on climate change to help winegrowers adapt. Near Chinon, Fabien Demois' farm was also a Climenvi pilot site. “To cope with drought, I have done away with leaf removal and I apply clay to my vines to protect them from sunburn. The leaves are tanned, thicker and the vines lose less water”.

According to Isabelle La Jeunesse, a geographer at the University of Tours and a participant in the Climenvi programme, “winegrowers, like everyone else, find it difficult to envisage their part in a changing environment, but they are not panicking”. Although climate change is a vector of increased risks, it also has beneficial effects. “Without it, would the quality of wine be the same today?” comments winegrower Jean-Christophe Mandard.