A Dispatch from Catherine Bernard in Languedoc

On June 28, 2019, parts of Europe were engulfed in a heatwave.

In the Herault region of Languedoc, where Catherine Bernard is located, the temperature rose to 45.9 degrees celsius, a record in France. A section of Catherine’s Grenache vineyard was severely damaged from the scoring sun, the grapes literally cooked on the vine. In May this year Catherine emailed me an update of the vines during the spring. As you can see, a vineyard teaming with life.

Spring 2020 in Languedoc, France
(Words by Catherine Bernard)

“On June 28, 2019, when the wind and the sun scorched the vines, it was such a shock that it dawned on me. This day literally changed my outlook on the cultivation of vines. While waiting for the trees, shrubs and perennials to grow, we have sown vetch, faba beans and peas this fall in the rows between the vines. We watched them grow, rise, curl, and flower. As our neighbours scrambled to turn the land over so the vines had no competition, we let the grasses gain space. We also decided to prune very late this year, in March, to delay bud break. The heavy rains in late April and early May were a blessing. In mid-May, the vine is married to the flowers of vetch, daisies, St. John's wort and wild oats. Dozens of insects have found their habitat there. It smells like cut hay when it sprouts. The vines are beautiful. After flowering, we lay the grass down, hoping that this thick mulch limits evaporation from the soil on hot summer days. This is a first and small step towards the return of diversity. But as always in viticulture, it is in the harvest, in the juices, that the vines will speak.”