"It’s been warm since the 15th of December, with nothing below zero for several months,’ said Tom Warner from Domaine de Joÿ in the Southwest. ‘It’s worrying."
His comments are echoed across the country, but particularly in the more northerly appellations, where growers are eyeing their vineyards with concern.
"We’ve already started budding and that usually happens at the start of April," said David Depuydt of Domaine de la Genillotte in Chablis in early March. "We’re a month ahead."
Figures from Meteo France starkly illustrate what vineyard owners can tell from tramping the rows every week: this winter has been almost non-existent.
Temperatures are, on average, 2°C higher than usual, with February particularly mild at 3.6°C above the average – something that the body describes as "more worthy of the spring period".
March, meanwhile, saw temperatures in the high teens across the entire country.
Though harmless in themselves, these super-mild winters come with a significant negative. Namely, if vines start their vegetative cycle early, they can be at their most vulnerable in April when frost is still a real possibility.
"Spring is coming to our vineyards already, and it’s not until mid-May that we are free of frost," said Sophie Bertin from Domaine Eric Louis in Sancerre.
If you want to see how this can play out in a particularly bad scenario, look no further than 2021. A mild winter and particularly warm March saw vines across the whole country burst into life weeks earlier than usual, before a brutal cold snap in early April saw three nights of temperatures well below zero.
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