Wine Update on the 2021 Grape Harvest in Provence

Late last year I wrote about the challenges for the winemakers of Provence in 2021. Between Mother Nature and some human-caused issues, the harvest seemed to be in jeopardy.

2021 Harvest Shows Promise

However, according to updated information, the 2021 wine crop in Provence seems to be pretty good, at least in terms of volume! In my last newsletter a month ago, I feared that the volume could decrease by up to 30% compared to an ideal year. Now the CIVP, “Provence wine growers’ trade association”, reports that this year the volume may even be larger than for 2020! The volume for the Côtes de Provence alone is now estimated at around 900,000 hectolitres, which is 30,000 more than for the year 2020 and only 30,000 less than the average harvest (930,000) in the last 10 years!

That the crop will be so large makes me a little thoughtful because the first estimates after the frost in early April were -30% and then the fire in August where 5% of the appellation’s vineyards were affected by smoke, soot, and fire extinguishing agents.

The fact that the volume is so good is probably because the second generation ‘unripe and “green grapes” have been used in winemaking. As I discussed in the previous post (2021-10-26), this has less of an impact on white wines and rosé wines. Another factor that allows the Côtes de Provence to keep the volume high is that permission has been granted to use activated carbon to remove any odours from the fire-affected vineyards. As it turns out, not all is lost, and here is how I came to that conclusion.

Guest Writer:

Göran Boman, the author of The Wines of Provence – Tricolour, is based in Sweden, far from Provence’s vineyards. His studies at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology led to a career with large international companies. Before retiring, Göran monitored the quality of nuclear fuel transmitted from EDF France to Sweden.

About 25 years ago, he joined Munskänkarna (“Cup-bearers”) for wine tastings and education. The association is the world’s largest non-commercial wine tasting group with 30,000 members, mainly in Sweden and Provence.

If you love the Provence wines, then this Essential Reading is for you. In his book, Göran Boman covers 58 wine producers and recommends 338 wines, not just rosé wines. Use the book as a guide to discovering these wines and the producers. His goal is to deepen your knowledge of everything worth knowing about the wines of Provence.