When is the harvest ?

It's impossible to predict the exact start of the grape harvest in France. However, it can be said that the wine grape harvest in France runs from August to October.

The official start of the harvest is given by the "ban des vendanges", a prefectoral decree. The aim of this administrative authorisation is to guarantee the quality of the wines by harvesting at full maturity.

Variations in climate and weather, the location of the vineyard and the type of grape variety all influence the timing and duration of the harvest. As Alexandre Dumas wrote, "the air is mild in our country, and the harvest promises to be beautiful in Burgundy this year".

In countries other than France, the dates for harvesting grapes for wine change. In the southern hemisphere, they occur earlier in the year.

As a result of global warming, it is no longer so unusual for some harvests to start earlier in the year. In fact, it's a phenomenon that's tending to become more permanent. In the Gard region of France, the winegrowers at the Héraclès winery had their earliest-ever harvest in 2022. The harvest of Muscat grapes began on 29 July. In some vineyards, harvesting began as early as 25 July.

While it is impossible to give precise dates for the start of the grape harvest by region, we can generally establish averages by region.

In the vineyard, the bunches of grapes must be fully ripe. In general, it takes around 100 days from the appearance of the first vine flower for the grapes to reach maturity. This period is affected by climatic conditions, weather and dry periods. The variety of grape as well as the type of wine produced also influence the ripening of the grapes. The grapes used to make white wines reach maturity before the bunches used for red wines.

Note that the green light for harvesting is given by the ban des vendanges.