The Wine Press: Harvesting Bubbles Under Pressure

Today in Wine News: Harvest has already begun in some of the Northern Hemisphere’s warmer wine regions, but after a rainy spring in notoriously chilly Champagne, Le Comité Champagne has decided to wait until mid-September to start picking grapes for the world’s best sparkling wines.

With a heat wave threatening to sweep through Champagne, how will the 2024 crop fare? And how much can Champenoise vineyard managers prepare for temperatures rising well above normal?

Keep listening to learn more.

A snap from the 2023 harvest at Maison Bruno Paillard. Photo Credit: Maison Bruno Paillard.

Further Reading

• “Together for the Champagne harvest” (CIVC press release)

• “5 reasons why Champagne remains optimistic for 2024” (Liz Palmer)

• “Why Champagne is well-placed to weather climate change” (Patrick Schmitt/The Drinks Business)

In Other News

Here are some additional highlights from the week:

The Institute of Masters of Wine have announced five new Masters of Wine. The new class of MWs includes Neil Bernardi, Tone Veseth Furuholmen, Benjamin Hasko, Victoria Mason, and Wei Xing. There are now 431 Masters of Wine representing 30 countries throughout the world.

• “Five new Masters of Wine announced today” (Patrick Schmitt/The Drinks Business)

Today in the symbiotic critter and wine relationship… A South African wine estate is using drones to drop predatory wasps on their vines in an effort to curb the deadly leafroll virus. The project called SkyBugs, a collaboration between a Cape Town-based bug supplier and an agritech company, is helping Vergelegen Wine Estate manage its 130 hectares of vineyards in the Western Cape of South Africa.

• “A South African vineyard is dropping predatory wasps from drones to keep its grapes free from bugs” (Gertrude Kitongo/CNN)

And finally, American filmmaker Steven Soderberg has become the unofficial mascot for a little-known Bolivian spirit. In 2010, Soderberg collaborated with Bolivian singani producer Casa Real on a premium version, Singani 63, meant to be imported and shared with other countries. Soderberg worked with the TTB for eight years to formally recognize singani as brandy, and after that recognition came in January 2023, Singani 63 is now distributed in most U.S. states and the United Kingdom. And yes, this is a Soderberg fan account, thank you for asking.

• “Movie Director Unearths Bolivia’s Secret Brandy” (W. Blake Gray/WineSearcher)

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That’s all the news this week. Thank you for listening to The Wine Press!

We’ll be back next Thursday with a new crop of wine news. Until then, cheers and happy drinking!