This week marked the beginning of the harvest season in the cognac vineyards.
Despite a difficult year, cognac growers have made a good start to their harvest. Although the yield will not reach that of the fall of 2020, the president of the Bureau national interprofessionnel du cognac (BNIC) gave a sense of confidence to his troops after presenting the latest analyses of the vineyard and the grapes, of good quality.
“At this stage, the analyses of the bunches indicate good quality grapes.” The harvest period began a few days ago and the first results seem quite encouraging, according to Christophe Veral, president of the BNIC.
“The 2021 harvest will probably be in line with the decennial average, but will not reach the levels of the last vintage, with a potential vineyard harvest of about 110 hectoliters of volume per hectare,” he continued.
The president added and specified that a “major effort” is planned for September 27th by the winegrowers.
They will indeed have to make an effort to limit the damage caused by mildew, frost and global warming.
The next step will be to balance yields, which is set annually at 14.84 hectoliters of alcohol per hectare. To balance the agronomic yield and the annual yield, the Cognac network counts on relying on its climatic reserve (eau-de-vie reserves, placed in stainless steel vats and not subjected to aging).
“This year too, the climatic reserve will play its role, as the agronomic yield (vine production potential) is 10.80 hl AP/ha,” said Véral.
Therefore, the size of this reserve is essential, both this year and the following years. Its reconstitution in 2020 will allow, thanks to a partial release of the stock, to restore the balance between the two yields.
It thus fulfills its functions since this mechanism was created “to minimize the impact of climatic risks on its stocks and to manage the growth of the sector in a sustainable manner with a permanent objective of quality“.
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