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In the Pas-de-Calais, the mining areas are experiencing a new life. On the slopes of a slag heap in the region is a vineyard unique in France, perched more than 130 meters high.
On the black hill of Haillicourt (Pas-de-Calais), symbol of the region’s mining past, 3,000 vines are harvested by around fifty volunteers, defying a vertiginous slope. The vines were planted there ten years ago by Olivier Pucek, winegrower, settled in Charente but originally from the region. “To ripen grapes, you need heat and sun, he explains. We knew we could salvage that from the slag heap.” The schist and the slope help to raise the temperature of the earth, and to make the grapes grow, which will give Chardonney.
This harvest gives the “Charbonnay”. “I can’t find the taste of charcoal”, raises Henri Jammet, winegrower of the region. Making wine in the Pas-de-Calais, a crazy project? Not that much, according to climate experts. According to the projection, global warming will make it possible by 2050 to produce wine well beyond traditional wine regions. Hauts-de-France, Brittany and Normandy could, in the future, have a perfect climate for viticulture.