RTL's Céline Eischen visited Remerschen's Domaine Sunnen-Hoffmann vineyards, where the sun has been blazing in recent weeks. But the heat did not hold the older vineyards back, and grapes were a-sprouting with the roots reaching deep into the ground and drawing enough water. As for the younger vines though, the grapes face greater pressure. As young winemaker Marie Kox explains, the most important thing during such heatwaves is to look after the soil.
"The soil really has to be well nourished and properly moist", Kox said, "so that it can store water when it rains and allow the roots to head deep down."
Given how hot it has been so early in the summer, the grapes are likely to ripen earlier than usual this year.
Kox said that it was shaping up to be a very early year, which would mean that the harvest will start early once again. Last year, she noted, picking began on 26 August, and this year, judging by current conditions, it could fall even earlier. She added that there is still a month and a half to go and plenty can still happen.
It is now clear that this is not going to be a one-off heatwave. A number of strategies are in play, she explained, including the use of more resistant rootstocks for new plantings.
Kox and her family have been producing organic wine for 25 years. The decision she said had been firmly vindicated by the current climate.
She said the family was genuinely pleased with the way things were going and intended to keep heading in that direction, since their work was with nature and for nature. They are dependent on the land, she added, which is why they really have to look after it, build up the soil and create a balanced, unified system.
It is, in Kox's view, a constant interplay between nature, the vines and the winemaker, one that has to be seen as a whole.
