It's August. In wine country, it's a relatively chill time, when grapes and the people who tend and ferment them hit the snooze button before the race to the finish line in September, and often October.
Not this year.
2026 has been a year of extremes – frost, hail, wildfires, droughts and record-breaking heat. Grapes that have managed to survive the deluge have been put on the fast track to maturity, and in regions across the world, harvest is well underway.
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc, Provence, Roussillon, Sicily, Santa Barbara (harvest began as early as June 30!), Napa, Catalonia and the list goes on and on, are already harvesting grapes, or are about to kick it off.
We are entering new territory, with many fearing that the grapes being harvested may be sugar-drunk, but lacking full phenological maturity. Others say bud break began early, so the early harvest makes sense. Almost everyone is trying to figure out how to plant and plan for the future.
A warm winter
Climate change has had a devastating effect on the 2026 vintage, especially in France, Spain and the US.
Early bud breaks followed by frost or hail on the East Coast and in France caused upwards of 90 percent primary bud damage in hard-hit pockets of New York, Virginia, Burgundy and beyond. Then, wildfires across France and Spain devoured hundreds of thousands of acres, threatening prime wine-growing regions across Bordeaux, Provence, Avila and Cebreros.
Even vignerons in regions that were relatively unscathed observed how shifting weather patterns are adding pressure to the growing season.
"Things got off to an early start, and many growers were caught off-guard and have spent much of the season playing catch-up," says Aaron Jackson, founder and winemaker of Aaron Wines in Paso Robles and AKANA in San Luis Obispo. "After a very warm winter, cooler seasonal temperatures have prevailed along with higher than normal humidity, so there have been lots of issues with powdery mildew."
Grapevines didn't get their usual winter nap, which translates to stressed vines, Jackson says. Plus, unusually strong winds in the spring suppressed growth.
"The mildew pressure is the worst I've ever seen," Jackson says. "We are seeing very low yields due to a windy spring."
Early kickoff
Even so, Jackson says he doesn't "have any immediate quality concerns."
James Sparks, founder and winemaker at Santa Barbara's Kings Carey Wines and winemaker at Liquid Farms, says he was alarmed when he heard rumors about growers picking grapes in June for sparkling wine. And while he is holding his breath, he's not overly concerned about the the quality of the grapes this year.
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