The strategy of the Ampelhus estate in Lunel-Viel to avoid the impact of global warming on the vines

The harvest period began ten days in advance in the Hérault vineyards. At Ampelhus estateat Lunel Viel, the harvest began on August 1st and should end around September 20th. A vineyard of about ten hectares in organic farming which produces around 20,000 bottles per year and which has been adapting for 10 years to the global warming to limit its impact on the vines. For that, Thibaut Vermillard and his wife Jenia Vasiljeva have chosen to reintroduce into their lands historical grape varieties of Languedocas the black pikethe Rivairenc or even the Picardan.

“They are adapted to rather dry and hot conditions. One of their peculiarities is to be later, to be able to ripen now in September and not in August. So to escape the hot weather“, explains the winemaker. And faced with the heat wave this summer, their vines did not suffer. Yet no irrigation here, plants feed themselves with water. “We prefer the plant that irrigates itself via its roots, since it is made for that. The vine is capable of reaching very deep down to 30 or 40 meters down to the water table. We give all the cards to the plant to fend for itself. We look for the natural physiological balance of the plant and we don’t ask it more than it can, by infusing it”, explains the trained agronomist who took over the family estate.

Olive trees to shade the vines

And in the face of the heat, another, more recent initiative has been put in place to bring shade to the vine and therefore protect it. “We plant a row of olive trees, 12 rows of vines, a row of olive trees, systematically, to recreate small microclimates, so that our vineyard has more resilience in relation to excess heat“, explains Thibaut Vermillard.

This is done with each new planting of vines on the estate, because the winegrowers realized in 2019, three years ago, during the heat peak which had reached 46 degrees, in Vérargues, five kilometers from Lunel -Viel, that not all plants suffered the same fate : “If we took the middle of the plot, the grapes and the leaves were completely roasted, three or four rows near the trees, on the other hand there was no impact“.

And all this work is the fruit of a long term thinking. “Farming is anticipating. Planting vines lasts at least 30 or 40 years, so it’s a commitment over a generation. This is not to say ‘next year, what climate will there be’, but rather ‘in 30 or 40 years, what climate will there be? And will the vine be suitable?“, concludes Thibaut Vermillard.