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What a spring in Burgundy (and France in general)! We are used to some beautiful spring weather with short bouts of rain thrown in. This year its just been all rain. Of the last 60 days, 50 have been rainy in the northern half of France. The yellow rape seed (used to make canola oil) seen below is usually blinding under the spring sunshine, but this year you can just leave your sunglasses at home. Not only that, the temperatures have been quite cold as well. Put all of that together and the vine has taken a while to bud and even then nature is taking its sweet time. You can compare this year's photo (taken May 4th) with last year's (taken April 25th). In most places, the vine growth is not yet at that point seen 10 days earlier last year. This is no reason to panic - for now. Usually nature will make up for lost time with sunny conditions in late spring or early summer. But if for some reason this does not happen, we could find this years' harvest starting October 1st instead of the traditional September 20th. Which means more chance of rain during the harvest and no one wants that!   |
| June of 2000 |
| February 2001 |
| May 2001 |