Miserable weather during the growing season means that many Chablis winemakers saw a relatively small 2024 harvest.
Figures were still being finalised, but the overall Chablis 2024 harvest was likely to be less than half of the level seen in 2023, said Paul Espitalié, president of the Chablis Commission, which is part of the regional Bourgogne Wine Bureau (BIVB).
Frost, hail, mildew and above-average rainfall in spring and early summer all presented challenges for growers, said Espitalié, although he said producers were happy with the quality of grapes that survived the climate’s onslaught.
‘The wine is tasting good today with a lot of fruit. Of course, it’s more grapefruit and lemon flavours than ripe fruit. [It’s a] very fresh, clean style of Chablis wines.’
A BIVB report on the Chablis 2024 harvest said that yields varied considerably, sometimes within a single village.
While some growers harvested below 10 hectolitres per hectare, a few managed to pick a full crop and the region’s south-east was seemingly spared, it said.
Reserve stocks built up in the 2022 and 2023 vintages should help to cover shortfalls from the smaller 2024 crop, maintaining supplies of Chablis for consumers, according to Espitalié.
Climate change in Chablis
Yet, he said conditions in 2024 add to a sense of climate change throwing up more unpredictable weather patterns in Chablis.
‘It’s not only global warming; we are talking about [the] climate being crazy,’ he said.
‘Some years we will have drought and heatwaves, and the following year we will have two or three times more water.’
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