Laura Van Lerberghe 12:00 p.m., August 08, 2022

Drought is wreaking havoc in some cultures in France, especially among winegrowers.

But this is not the case in Belgium.

The sunshine and the temperatures are a delight for Belgian wine producers, who hope to compete with French wines.

Because, with a bit of sun and a bit of rain, they finally found the happy medium to take care of their vines. 

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The current, very dry weather is ideal for Belgian winegrowers.

Usually, in Belgium, the vines suffer from the rain.

Here, the happy medium between rain and sun has finally been found.

The sunshine and the temperatures are a delight for Belgian wine producers, who hope to compete with French wines.

“There is not too much wind or too much rain”

“It's bingo this year, it's beautiful!”, enthuses Jean-François, winegrower, while walking on his estate.

He is smiling because his grapes are very green and healthy.

"There was no frost at the start. And there is not too much wind at the moment or too much rain. We have a flowering which went well", he explains on the microphone from Europe 1.

In these ideal conditions, there are no diseases or even fungi.

A situation very different from last year.

“We had tremendous amounts of water precipitation and so for us it was very difficult,” he recalls.

This year, its production should be twice as large and the quality is there.

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"There is no question of changing our grape varieties yet"

"We always say that we will catch up with the climate of Burgundy in twenty years. I have always dreamed of being able to make a Chardonnay in Belgium and I could say 'I put a little slap in the face of some Burgundies'", jokes the winemaker.

Something to make the owner of the Ry d'Argent dream.

"A year like this, I'm going to allow myself to get the reds really at the last minute".

These good conditions are linked in particular to global warming.

"We are lucky to have good synchronization and technical maturity. There is no question yet for us to think about changing our grape varieties. They are adapted to current conditions", nuance on Europe 1 Pierre-Henri Rion, president of the Federation of Winegrowers of Wallonia.

Wine production in Wallonia could even beat a record two million bottles.

The winegrowers are already preparing the vats for the first harvest in September.