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Burgundy wines break export records

Burgundy winegrowers rub their hands. Consumer enthusiasm for their wines continues unabated. In 2022, 92 million bottles were shipped worldwide for a record turnover of 1.5 billion euros. Could Burgundy produce more wines? Its market share depends on it.

The vineyards of Burgundy are adapting to global warming. © Agnieszka Kumor / RFI

Text by: Agnieszka Kumor

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Export figures are constantly increasing," says Christian Vanier, Director General of the Bureau interprofessionnel des vins de Bourgogne (BIVB). This success is mainly due to the recovery of bottles, but not only. Certainly, the prices of bottles are rising because of inflation, but the scarcity of the product is also a factor. So how do you satisfy everyone? For more than twenty years, the production of this vineyard in eastern France has been practically constant. On average, 1.4 million hectolitres of wine are produced each year. Compared to the Bordeaux region, which produces three times as much, this is not much.

Half of Burgundy's production is consumed outside France. Americans, British, Canadians, Japanese and Belgians love it. Problem: when the harvest is cut short due to spring frost or other weather hazards, the wines start to run out and buyers get impatient. This was the case in 2021, one of the worst harvests ever known in Burgundy. Fortunately, 2022 saw the largest wine harvest after 2018 (1.74 million hectoliters of wines produced). Supply should a priori satisfy demand. While waiting for the 2023 vintage, professionals can breathe, but they remain vigilant, because the challenges are enormous.

Global warming is increasingly palpable in the Burgundy vineyards. © Agnieszka Kumor / RFI

Adapting the vineyard to climate change

Like everywhere else, the Burgundy vineyard is affected by global warming. Michel Barraud is a winemaker in Sologny, in the Mâconnais and president of the cooperative cellar Vignerons des Terres secrètes in Prissé. Having taken over 9 hectares of vines belonging to his parents in 1989, he was able to expand the family estate which now reaches 45 hectares. "Rising temperatures, frost and other climatic disasters affect the fluctuation of our harvests. It's a real yo-yo over the last five years," sighs the winemaker. "Bud break, this primordial phase where the vegetative cycle begins, is getting earlier and earlier. In case of frost, the vine is destroyed. This is what happened in 2016, 2017 and 2021. Drought is another very important problem. Especially since it becomes recurrent, "he continues. A real strategy to adapt the Burgundy vineyard to climate change has been put in place within the interprofession.

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In 2050, in Beaune in Burgundy, we will have the weather that is today in the south of the France ", insists the director general. Aware of this, the BIVB has been conducting research for five years on methods of adapting the vine to rising temperatures. In particular, new rootstocks are being studied. This root part of the vine on which the grape cultivar will be grafted must be very resistant to drought. "We will certainly see things evolve on this point in the years to come: some rootstocks, which were not used in Burgundy, will come from the southern regions," abounds his winemaker colleague. This concerns the regions of France, but also those around the Mediterranean, such as Italy, Sardinia or Spain. "And even the United States, which is very advanced in terms of agricultural research."

Old, resistant, autochthonous grape varieties

In addition, we explore old or even sometimes forgotten cultivars: later or earlier, drought-resistant, tolerant of high temperatures, producing less sugar and more acidity, but discarded throughout history because they are considered less productive or less qualitative. Not to mention the grape varieties that are more resistant to diseases. Obviously, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir will remain two king grape varieties of Burgundy, but other grape varieties could come to support them. For Thiébault Huber, owner of the Huber-Verdereau estate in Meursault, little-known grape varieties such as pink chardonnay, sacy, melon de Bourgogne, savagnin, pinot liébault or trousseau could be added in the future to the grape varieties authorized for the production of Burgundy wines. As is the case today in Champagne.

Producing aromatic, light, elegant wines that keep a freshness for a long time, this is the objective of these professionals. "In the past, the logic was to harvest as late as possible to obtain the grapes at optimal maturity. Today, we reason our harvest dates differently. Before, we only looked at sugar content. Now, we will look at all the balances and we will choose our D-day of harvest in a more appropriate way, tasting the grapes, making analyses. This will sometimes allow us to harvest earlier than we had expected. This freshness that makes the typicality of our wines, we work every day by spending time in our vineyard. We adapt," concludes Michel Barraud, the winemaker in Sologny. Burgundy wines also adapt to all wallets, from 12 euros per bottle.

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