Before I get to global news, a quick reminder that on 22 March Richard is hosting a tasting of mature Margaret River wines in Tokyo. There are still a few tickets so if you’re interested, I highly recommend grabbing them!
Major floods in France and Victoria
After last week’s news on the record-breaking 40 consecutive days of rain in France, this week saw producers struggling to get into their vineyards. Budbreak has occurred two to three weeks early in many parts of southern France – which means growers are rushing to complete pruning and ploughing. Due to the sodden ground and flooding, tractors cannot navigate the vineyard. Growers have taken to working on foot or all-terrain vehicles– with one man making the news for pruning from his kayak. Damien Onorré, president of the Aude Winegrowers’ Union, emphasises that even as growers rush to finish their spring vineyard work, the biggest issue is fungal pressure. He is quoted by Vitisphere saying that ‘this year’s harvest will depend on the treatments’.
Meanwhile, the floods in Victoria at the start of March have done irrevocable damage. Grape growers are calling for March’s deluge to be declared a disaster under the state and federal government-backed Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. A disaster declaration by the Victorian government would mean relief funding – though likely not enough to cover producer costs for the season.
Champagne aims for net zero CO2 emissions
In 2003, Champagne was the first wine region to assess its carbon footprint, finding that the industry emitted 785,000 tons of CO2 annually. In 2005, the Comité Champagne set a goal to reduce that level by 25% by 2025. In January, Vinetur announced that the Comité had accomplished their goal, achieving a 27% reduction since 2003 to 580,000 tons. The Comité now aims to achieve net zero by 2050.
French co-operatives in danger
Thank you to news listener Céline Fauveau for sending this piece of news.
Two major co-operatives in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Groupement Interproducteurs Collioure Banyuls (GICB), representing 350 growers and accounting for more than 40% of the region’s production, and Arnaud de Villeneuve in Rivesaltes, representing 170 growers, both entered administration in early January due to an inability to meet debt obligations. These co-operatives represent 20% of the department’s wine production. Head of the GICB, Laurent Barreda, told Vitisphere, ‘As a co-operative, the GICB is dead. The debt’s too heavy’. The GICB has accumulated €21 million in debt over the last 25 years. The debt of Arnaud de Villeneuve remains unpublished. In both cases, a decline in consumption has resulted in a costly under-utilisation of winery space. In the case of GICB, this was costing the co-operative half a million euros annually.
Jackson Family closes Sonoma winery, gains Oregon brand
On 12 February Jackson Family Wines closed Carneros Hill Winery in Sonoma, eliminating 13 positions. Sean Carroll, Jackson Family’s director of communications, was quoted by The Drinks Business saying, ‘We have closed our Carneros facility, which served as overflow production capacity and was not tied to any specific brand. The site had become underutilised, and we consolidated operations accordingly …’.
On 3 March KGW8 announced that Jackson Family Wines had acquired the Oregon brand Big Salt last year – timing the announcement of the purchase to coincide with the release of their 2025 wines. Big Salt is a brand that was founded in 2016 by John and Ksenija House and specialises in white blends. There is no associated winery facility or vineyards; instead the brand sources fruit from sustainably-farmed vineyards throughout Oregon. Contracts will stay the same, production has moved to Jackson Family’s production facility in McMinnville and both of the Houses remain with the brand on five-year contracts.
Victoria vineyards sitting on gold?
On 11 March ABC News announced that Aureka, a gold exploration company, recently purchased three vineyards in the Great Western GI within the larger Grampians GI. All three vineyards previously supplied fruit for Best’s Wines. Fifth-generation winemaker for Best’s, Ben Thomson, told ABC, ‘I feel it’s quite sad, because our little wine region’s getting littler’. He explained that, with fewer growers and producers, it’s becoming more difficult to represent the region internationally but, given the current climate, he doesn’t blame growers for selling. Aureka’s representative said that while they’re hopeful that they’ll find enough gold to justify a mining operation, it’s not a certainty.
New Zealand and Australia start harvest
New Zealand kicked off harvest in Northland on 23 January, closely followed by Hawke’s Bay and, in recent weeks, Marlborough and Canterbury.
In Australia, Hunter Valley kicked off harvest in mid January with Tasmania, Coonawarra and Barossa joining in the past two weeks.
That’s all for this episode of the wine news. If you enjoy this newscast and would like to see it continue, please become a member of JancisRobinson.com. And if you have breaking news in your area, please email news@jancisrobinson.com.
Image at top from Vigicrues, a French government flood-warning service.
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