Before I get into the news, I want to congratulate all of the winners of the 2024 JancisRobinson.com wine writing competition! This competition has taken place annually since 2016 and has grown massively. This year we received a record-shattering 214 submissions.
The judges awarded Philip K Liao top prize with a piece that made me smile through my tears. Karen Magner’s laugh-out-loud story of studying abroad took the judges’ runner-up award AND took the top prize in the readers’ poll. Emily Grazier was the readers’ runner-up with a short and sweet piece on the reality of making wine. The judges could not decide on just one ‘highly commended’ entry and ultimately found that Erica Landis, Melanie Webber and Luke Haughton all deserved a spot on the awards list. And finally, Nina Lloyd was highly commended by our readers. If you have not read these already, all of them and many more are available to read for free on our site, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
On to the news!
Flooding in Central and Eastern Europe
Starting on 14 September, Storm Boris brought heavy rainfall and record flooding to Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland; 22 people have died, tens of thousands have been displaced, and there are widespread power outages.
In addition to being horrible news generally, it is bad news for the wine industry in these regions. On 16 September, speaking to Trink magazine (co-owned by our Germany specialist Paula Sidore), Patrick Proidl of Weingut Proidl in Krems was quoted saying ‘the little Krems river looks like the Danube. We are completely sealed off and the river is knocking on the winery buildings.’ Philip Cox, CEO of Cramele Recaș in Romania, spoke to Meininger’s about how a significant portion of their harvest was at risk. Domäne Wachau posted photos on Instagram of terracing that had collapsed and discussed how waterlogged soils are making harvest all the more difficult.
Despite the bad news, there is a tiny silver lining. The hot summer meant that much of the harvest in Romania had already been picked. In Austria, the rains were mostly concentrated in Niederösterreich and, because they were precipitated by an Arctic blast, temperatures dropped precipitously, to 5-10 °C , which helped to stave off fungal disease. Damage to vineyards seems to be minimal – though it is still early to know for sure. I’m hoping for dry weather for everyone.
Yield-decimating frost in South Australia
South Australia, in particular the regions of Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Riverland, have experienced a very dry winter which led to an early budbreak this spring. Which means that when, on Tuesday 17 September, Adelaide experienced its coldest temperature for September in a century, it was disastrous for a number of wine producers in the area. According to ABC News temperatures in Barossa dipped to -4 °C (24.8 °F), Riverland recorded temperatures of 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) and Adelaide Hills 1.6 °C (34.9 °F). In interviews with ABC, Barossa grape-grower Adrian Hoffman said he had lost up to half of his crop, Riverland grower Michael Stivahtaris estimated he’d lost 20%, and Clare Valley winemaker Marnie Roberts estimated that up to 85% of some Clare Valley vineyards had been affected.
I have my fingers crossed for those in frost-affected regions that their vines push fruitful secondary buds. But even if that happens, yields will be lighter this year.
Rhône’s newest appellation
I feel like whenever there are appellation changes in France it’s a bit exciting! It’s such a slow and seemingly cumbersome process with so much paperwork that you usually begin hearing about the attempt years in advance. This latest appellation, a long-standing Côtes du Rhône-Villages, was granted its own communal appellation, Laudun AOP, on 11 September but it had been in the pipeline since 2013. Laudun is just north of Lirac, and while it makes white, red and rosé wines, it has a higher proportion of white wine – 32% – than most surrounding appellations. These wines are made predominantly from Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Viognier while reds and rosés utilise predominantly Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
1st Regenerative Organic Certified producer in France
Firstly, if you haven’t yet heard of ROC, it’s a global environmental certification that began certifying in 2020. Rather than just requiring the elimination of pesticides and herbicides use as does organic certification, ROC requires that agricultural operations test their soils and show healthy or increasing amounts of organic matter as well as ensure good working conditions for staff and high standards for animal treatment. It is one of the most stringent certifications in the world and only a handful of producers have been certified, with practitioners in the US, Chile, Argentina and Austria, and now one in France.
On 17 September, Domaine Mirabeau, a B Corp wine estate in Provence, became France’s first vineyard to achieve Regenerative Organic Certified status. Stephen Cronk, who is a co-founder of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation in the UK and who bought the 20-hectare (49-acre) Domaine Mirabeau in 2019, was quoted in the press release as saying that they have increased biological soil activity tenfold since 2021. Congratulations to Domaine Mirabeau!
A grape exchange for Germany’s VDP estates?
Due to the severe frost that struck Germany in April of this year and decimated yields across the country but especially in Sachsen, Saale-Unstrut, the Nahe, Ruwer and Saar, the VDP, a members-only organisation that requires its producers to meet stringent standards that include using only estate fruit, are beginning preparations for a ‘grape exchange’ reports Trink Magazine. This would mean that VDP members from regions struck by frost could buy grapes from VDP members in regions less effected by frost. All exchanges would be subject to VDP oversight. This is similar, if more tightly controlled, to what British Columbia has chosen to do following their devastating winter freeze. In both cases it is about keeping producers afloat financially rather than any permanent loosening of regulations.
Harvest starts in the Veneto
I received an email this morning from Emma Bentley – whose name you might recognise from her entry into this year’s writing competition – saying that where she lives, in a small town near Soave, they have also been impacted by Storm Boris. However, yesterday was dry and today the sun is out and harvest is officially beginning! This is about on time as the region usually gets under way in mid September. I’m wishing everyone in the Veneto dry weather!
That’s all for this episode of the wine news. If you enjoy this newscast and would like to see it continue, please consider subscribing to JancisRobinson.com.
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