How French Wine is affected by the record early harvest
The 2026 grape harvest in France is the earliest on record starting from the first week of August- weeks before it traditionally took place in earlier years- due to extreme heat conditions and draught. Harvest dates depend on the grape variety and the wine style being produced. Growers look at elements that include sugar ripeness- later translated into alcohol- phenolic ripeness (maturity of the skin in terms of color, tannins and flavor) and the ripeness of the seeds. These were all achieved in record time in 2026, the challenge however is keeping all these elements in balance with the fresh acidity that is increasingly reduced as the temperature gets
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