LIGNORELLES, France -- On a brisk late September morning in the heart of Chablis wine country, grape pickers haul large and heavy buckets over their shoulders, drenched in sweat as they climb the very steep slope of the Vau de Vey vineyard.It's the final day of the harvest at the Domaine Roland Lavantureux winery, and workers are handpicking the last of the prized Chardonnay grapes that will eventually be transformed into the bright and high-end Premier Cru that is bottled by the estate.But wine lovers around the world may struggle to get their hands on the 2024 “millesime” — wine that comes from a single year's harvest.It will be available in smaller quantities than usual.Much of France’s wine country faced one of the wettest years on record in 2024 so far amid a changing climate, after years of challenges to vineyards and wine quality caused by drought and heat.
At the Lavantureux estate, the picking lasted just nine days — about half the usual time — after a year of unpredictably harsh weather marked by frost, hail, record rainfall and the spread of a dangerous fungus that has left Chablis growers on edge.“I have been working here since 2010.This is my most difficult year,” says winemaker David Lavantureux, who follows in the footsteps of his father Roland, a winemaker himself.
“And all the old-timers will tell you the same thing.It’s been a very difficult year because the weather has been so unpredictable.
We have not been spared a single thing.”The ordeal began in April with the frost.Then in May, a double hailstorm pummeled the region.
Then came relentless rain, right up to the harvest.According to the Burgundy wine federation, some 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of vines in the Chablis country were affected by the May storm.
And the excess moisture allowed a destructive mildew fungus to thrive.Once entrenched, the disease causes huge crop losses and can also affect wine quality.Together with his brother Arnaud, David fought ha...