It’s 42 °C here in the Loire today. The third day of intense heat that is seeing growers in the Loire start to worry about their grapes.
Temperatures like this are normally unheard of in the Loire and apart from 2003 (the year of the famous heatwave when many thousands of people died in France), we’ve not seen temperatures over 40° in the region.
Young vines and new plantations are seriously suffering from water stress and require hand watering to keep them alive at the moment. Grapes on the vines that are particularly exposed are starting to burn and shrivel under the heat.
We haven’t had any rain for more than 40 days now and we really need some. Temperatures are due to drop dramatically this evening with the threat of thunder storms and hail.
