Burgundy climate change
‘The world’s winemakers are on the front line when it comes to observing what’s happening to the climate’ Aubert de Villaine, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
It’s getting hotter in Burgundy – that much is clear, from data analyses and personal testimony. What does this mean for the future of the region’s finest wines, whose style is shaped by its marginal climate? And how are producers responding, asks Tim Atkin MW
Imagine the summer of 1540 in Burgundy. More to the point, imagine enduring those stifling, recordbreaking months without air conditioning, antiperspirant or an ice-cold beer. Forest fires seethed across Europe, worshippers at the church of Notre Dame de Beaune joined eight separate processions to pray for rain, and the temperatures were almost unbearable. Vines suffered from hydric
The sun rises over the vineyards of Beaujolais
stress and when the grapes were eventually harvested they looked like raisins, producing wines that were sweet, rich and heady.
After three sweltering vintages between 2017 and 2019, it’s easy to forget that exceptionally warm, dry growing seasons are nothing new in Burgundy. Last year, a group of academics from the European Geosciences Union published a meticulously researched paper analysing the starting date of every harvest in Beaune between 1354 and 2018. Of the 664 years under consideration, 33 were what they termed ‘extremely early’ and 21 of those occurred between 1393 and 1719, long before the invention of the motor car or the advent of the industrial revolution. The beliefs of modern-day climate change sceptics could be further bolstered by the fact that there were only four unusually early vintages between 1720 and 1987, suggesting that Burgundy was cooler in that period.
The new reality
In 2003 everything changed, with the arrival of the region’s hottest ever summer. There have been cooler, later-picked vintages since that watershed year, such as 2008 and 2013, but the trend has been unmistakeable. Eight of the subsequent 16 vintages (nine if you include 2019, which was being harvested as the EGU paper appeared) feature in that list of 33 early harvests. In the past, conclude the authors, outstandingly hot, dry years were atypical; since the ‘transition to rapid warming’, which they say began in 1988, not 2003, they have become the norm. Since 1988, Burgundian harvests have started an average of 13 days earlier than in the preceding 634 years.
Forgive me for starting this piece with a firestorm of statistics, but those findings confirm what is self-evident to most Burgundians. The region is living through a period of unprecedented transformation driven by climate change. Part of this transformation has been beneficial, enabling a welcome run of good to outstanding vintages that stretches back to 2005.
‘I experienced 1977 and 1984, which were the antithesis of 2018 and 2019,’ says François Millet of Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé. ‘And believe me, I’d rather have the latter pair every time.’ Warmer, earlier harvests, picked before the rains and cooler weather that normally follow the autumnal equinox, have resulted in better and more consistent wines. Burgundy, especially red Burgundy, is much easier to buy with confidence than it was in the 1980s. No wonder people are talking about a Golden Age.
Grave threat
And yet there’s obviously a negative side to climate change, too. Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac describes it as ‘our phylloxera’, a threat to the region that is every bit as grave as the aphid that destroyed vineyards in the 19th century. Devastating spring frosts (abetted by early budding after mild winters), hail storms, new vineyard pests and diseases, heat stress, sunburnt grapes and torrential downpours all come with the territory.
We’re also witnessing a fissure in the carefully structured pyramid of Burgundy’s appellation system, which has historically recognised the primacy of well-exposed, midslope sites over cooler and/or wetter ones at altitude or on the plain.
This has longer-term implications for the price of land and, indeed, for the price of certain, highly valued wines. Will billionaires
‘The region is living through a period of unprecedented transformation, driven by climate change’
like Stan Kroenke, François Pinault and Bernard Arnault still want to acquire grand cru parcels for stratospheric sums? And will collectors be prepared to pay £300 or more for a bottle of Burgundy with 16% alcohol? It’s an important question. Fred Mugnier of Domaine J-F Mugnier thinks that riper, softer, more ‘New World-style’ reds and whites are a ‘move away from what makes Burgundy special towards something that is good to drink young, but ultimately more banal’.
Changing landscape
Climate change means that Burgundians are being forced to reassess the way they grow their grapes, not to mention how they ferment and age them. It is also having an impact on the aromas, flavours and structure of their finished wines, as well as opening the door to faults such as excessive volatility, brettanomyces and swingeing levels of alcohol. Worse, some producers are worried that climate change could sever the intricate nexus between Burgundy and its historic, UNESCO-endorsed World Heritage Sites.
Of course, compared with the bushfires that have affected Australian and
‘Riper, softer wines are a move away from what makes Burgundy special towards something more banal’
Fred Mugnier, Domaine J-F Mugnier
Californian wine regions in the last year, what’s happening in Burgundy is less devastating and life-threatening, even if some Burgundians have lost all or most of a vintage’s crop to hail, heat or frost. In the longer term, the prospect of global catastrophe is way more terrifying still. If the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s predictions are correct and the earth is 4.5°C warmer by 2100 at current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, we could be facing crop failures, mass migration and wars fought over scarce resources. Worse, the so-called Sixth Extinction may be upon us, ending life on earth as we know it.
In such circumstances, it is more than a little obscene to fret about the potential loss of nuance in our glass of Gevrey-Chambertin. And yet what’s happening in the wine world right now does matter, and not just to Burgundophiles. As the Australian viticulturist Dr Richard Smart has argued, wine is the ‘canary in the coalmine because it’s an early warning system’. Or, as Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, puts it: ‘Winemakers are on the front line when it comes to observing what’s happening to the climate. The fluctuations we are experiencing today are more significant than at any time in history.’
No crop is as clearly defined by its climate and origin as Vitis vinifera grapes. If this is true in general, it is doubly so in Burgundy, where terroir has reached its apotheosis over centuries of study, analysis and empiricism. If wine regions, Burgundy included, can find ways to slow the impact of climate change, this could serve as an example to other forms of
agriculture. Using renewable energy, ditching heavy bottles, bulk shipping, saving water, exploring carbon capture, eschewing systemic fertilisers and weed killers and reducing carbon dioxide emissions are all potential responses to the climate emergency.
Change in mindset
What else can Burgundy do right now? The first thing is surely to recognise the severity of the challenge it faces. Too many producers are in denial and have been for some time. Even before the European Geosciences Union’s paper was published last year, it was obvious that, despite the very real advantages of warmer temperatures in the region, there were obvious drawbacks too, not least the long-term viability of Pinot Noir as Burgundy’s marquee red variety.
In 2006, this very magazine published a piece about the First World Conference on Global Warming and Wine. Its headline? ‘Pinot impossible in Burgundy over next 50 years’. And then there was the 2009 Greenpeace Report, which stated that ‘climate change could destroy Burgundy’. Or, more tellingly, the paper delivered by the American scientist Professor Gregory Jones in 2007 entitled
‘Climate Change: Observations, Projections and General Implications for Viticulture and Wine Production’, which warned that leading regions such as Burgundy were at risk from both ‘short-term climate variability and longterm climate change’. Was no one listening?
This is partly a generational thing. For growers who know what it was like to chaptalise their wines as a matter of course, struggling to reach the minimum required degree of alcohol in the 1970s and 1980s, the new normal can be hard to assimilate. Older producers like Fred Mugnier, who is ‘terrified about the future’, are still comparatively unusual, but younger ones are more aware of the issues involved. ‘My daughter Léa turns off the air conditioning in the car when we’re driving from Meursault to the Mâconnais,’ says Dominique Lafon of the Domaine des Comtes Lafon. ‘She’s banned plastic at the estate and she’s a vegetarian, like almost half of our team. Attitudes are changing in Burgundy.’
In the vineyard
The place to start is in the vineyard, where there are several methods of mitigating the effects of climate change. In existing vineyards, possible solutions include broader, denser canopies, not topping the vines during the growing season and higher yields per plant to reduce sugar concentration in the grapes.
More controversially, several growers told me they had reduced the amount of ultrafashionable ploughing they do, or stopped it altogether, because as well as aerating soils, it dries them out. Using compost below the vines and cover crops to retain moisture is becoming increasingly widespread. Organic or biodynamic practices also help, according to Jean-Louis Trapet of Domaine Jean-Louis Trapet, as the ‘vines develop deeper root systems that buffer extremes’.
When it comes to new vineyards, later ripening, more drought-resistant clones, massal selections and rootstocks are another partial response; the ones that were planted in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were designed for a different reality. Shifting row orientation from common east-west to north-south would help to reduce the amount of direct sunlight on bunches.
Cooler sites, especially in the Hautes Côtes but also in ‘lesser’ premiers crus, village and generic lieux-dits, are coming into their own. ‘The cold areas of the past like the Combe Aux Moines are becoming the pearls of today,’ says Jean-Marie Fourrier of Domaine Fourrier.
Some producers are also looking outside Burgundy, not just to the Jura and the
Beaujolais, but to previously unplanted areas as far afield as Picardy. ‘I’m searching for farms with limestone, slopes and cows,’ says Nicolas Potel of Domaine de Bellene. ‘I haven’t found anything yet, but we need to look north.’
There are differing views about what climate change means for the future of the appellation system in what was once a marginal area, at least in later-picked vintages. Some growers, such as Pierre Damoy in Gevrey-Chambertin, think that the grands crus in particular have a ‘certain class and magic’ that resists heat and drought. Others argue that some of Burgundy’s most famous appellations are living on borrowed time, especially if they are planted on poorer limestone soils with less moisture-retaining clay content. Sites that managed to ripen grapes in chilly vintages like 1988, 1998, 2004, 2008 and 2013 are arguably too warm now. Old vines, which seem to cope better with climate change than young ones, are a mitigating factor, but some of the grands crus may be ill-suited to the evolving reality.
Radical measures
Sacrilegious it may seem to some Burgundy lovers, but should the region consider planting other varieties? I’m not just talking about
Gamay, which was expelled from Burgundy in 1395 by Philip the Bold but still exists in the Mâconnais and even in isolated spots in the Côte d’Or, where it is used to make Bourgogne Passe-Tout-Grains. I wonder if, more radically, now is the time to look at what else might do well in Burgundy. Sauvignon Blanc is already grown in Saint-Bris, Peter Gierszewski of Domaine de Thalie has some Syrah near Cluny and a bit of illegal Chenin Blanc has just been planted by a top domaine in Chablis. ‘It might not work,’ says the winemaker in question,
‘but it’s worth a try.’
When I was in Burgundy last year, I did a tasting of Côte Chalonnaise whites with a group of growers. All the wines were Chardonnays, which tends to fare better in heatwave vintages than Pinot Noir, but many were
‘Sites that managed to ripen grapes in chilly vintages like
1988, 1998, 2004, 2008 and 2013 are arguably too warm now’
flat and lacked acidity. Imagine what
Assyrtiko, Grenache Blanc, Gros Manseng or Vermentino might achieve here, I asked to a muted response. The Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO) would have to give its blessing, as would the local Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne (BIVB), but extreme conditions require radical thinking in response. After all, if Bordeaux can sanction the use of Alvarinho and Touriga Nacional since 2019, anything is possible.
The same goes for the introduction of irrigation, which is currently illegal in Burgundy. Again, this made sense when the region had plentiful rainfall at the right times, but in very dry vintages like 2019, it might have increased low yields and even saved some vineyards that produced nothing at all.
‘We’re seeing a New World climate in an Old World region,’ says Australian ex-pat Jane Eyre. ‘It’s crazy that we’re not allowed to irrigate. The parameters are shifting quickly and it’s ridiculous that the laws aren’t adapting at the same speed.’ Brian Sieve of Domaine de Montille (pictured above) disagrees: ‘We can look at the way we prune and work our soils differently before we resort to drip irrigation.’
Harvest tightrope
Early picking is becoming increasingly popular in Burgundy, particularly for whites but also for reds, with Arnaud Ente leading the way in Meursault on 19 August in 2018. The technique remains controversial, however, and has led to the charge that some growers might as well be making sparkling wine base.
Another fear, where reds are concerned, is that there is a dichotomy between sugar ripeness and phenolic maturity and that harvesting early produces ‘green’ wines. What is ripe for one producer is underripe for another, so this is as much about personal taste as anything, both for Burgundians and
‘We can look at the way we prune and work our soils differently before we resort to drip irrigation’
Brian Sieve of Domaine de Montille (left)
you, the consumer. A partial alternative would be night harvesting, but the consensus is that the restrictive French Loi Travail would make this more expensive, if not impossible.
Meanwhile, in the winery, there are plenty of techniques producers can adopt. These include chilling grapes, restricting the number of punchdowns to minimise tannin extraction, faster fermentations to avoid glycerol production, using cultured yeasts that yield less alcohol, acidification, reverse osmosis, whole clusters (stems increase pH levels because of higher potassium, but add structure), ageing the wines in amphorae or larger oak and introducing air-conditioning in maturation cellars, even those that are underground. All of these things are being done in Burgundy right now, albeit secretly in some instances. Try getting a grower to talk about the benefits of reverse osmosis.
Others believe that the threat of climate change has been overstated. Sébastien Cathiard of the Domaine Sylvain Cathiard is not alone in arguing that farming balanced, well-tended vines is the still best way to produce harmonious wines. It’s also true that Burgundians are getting used to dealing with warmer vintages after all the practice they’ve had recently. And maybe Mother Nature is adjusting to climate change, too. ‘In 2003, some of our vats stopped fermenting, leaving residual sugar in the wines, but in 2018 and 2019 that wasn’t the case,’ says MarieChristine Mugneret-Gibourg of Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg. ‘Maybe the natural yeasts have changed, or perhaps the vines are changing to cope with less water and higher temperatures.’
Perhaps they are indeed, but human intervention remains essential going forward. This will involve a lot of trial and error, according to Andrew Nielsen of Le Grappin. ‘We’re all in the dark right now. We know what the wrong techniques are, but not necessarily the right ones.’
History will judge whether Burgundians made the correct choices. ‘It’s not hopeless yet,’ says Diana Snowden-Seysses of Domaine Dujac, ‘but it’s pretty scary. I reckon we’ve got another decade to adapt before it’s too late.’ Fingers crossed.
‘ We’re all in the dark right now. We know what the wrong techniques are, but not necessarily the right ones’
Andrew Nielsen, Le Grappin