The Harvest of Resilience and Hope - 2026

Harvest 2026 is nearly here. For Europe, this year has felt different from the very beginning. The first images that caught my attention in March were rows of frost candles glowing through the darkness in Burgundy as growers fought to protect tender new buds. Weeks later came photographs of hail-damaged vines from the Côte de Beaune. Then came the fires - not just in one region, but across Europe. Somewhere along the way, the growing season stopped being the story; humanity, resilience, and community became the focus.

Growers don't expect every season to be easy, but 2026 has tested Burgundy at every turn. One of the earliest budding seasons since 1965 left vineyards particularly vulnerable when spring frosts arrived, forcing growers into sleepless nights of lighting candles, running wind machines, and doing whatever they could to protect the crop. Not every vineyard escaped unscathed from the frosts. Then on July 15, a violent hailstorm swept across parts of the Côte d'Or; in Marsannay, some growers found vines stripped almost entirely of fruit. As July drew to a close, Burgundy had already endured four summer heat waves, while forest fires added another concern to an already difficult season. No single event defines Burgundy's 2026 growing season; rather, it is the cumulative weight of one challenge after another.

While Burgundy was still absorbing those setbacks, attention shifted southwest. On July 22, reports began emerging of major wildfires along France's Atlantic coast near Cap Ferret. Within days, the fires had advanced toward Bordeaux. Entire communities were evacuated as the blaze spread inland; by the weekend, more than 220,000 people from 23 communes had been forced to leave their homes, including 55,000 people evacuated on the night of July 26 alone. The fires were intense enough to generate France's first documented pyrocumulonimbus - a towering fire cloud capable of generating its own thunderstorm. With the fires approaching Pessac-Léognan, it is simply too early to know whether smoke exposure will become a concern for growers. The story had moved well beyond wine; homes, forests, businesses, and the communities surrounding one of the world's great wine regions are suddenly under threat.

One of the images that stayed with me came not from a vineyard, but from the response. Speaking on behalf of Château Rauzan-Ségla, Séverine Labesque explained that the estate dispatched tractors and agricultural water tankers to support firefighters and DFCI (Défense des Forêts Contre les Incendies) volunteers battling the Gironde fires. Rauzan-Ségla was not alone. Growers and wineries across the region also supplied tractors, water tankers, and countless hours helping draw water from local lakes so that the firefighters could focus on fighting the fires. It was a reminder that the people who grow grapes are also the people who live in these communities; when disaster strikes, they are often among the first to help.

Nor has France stood alone. In central Spain, wildfires have swept through the Sierra de Gredos, one of the country's most compelling wine regions and home to some of its oldest Garnacha and Albillo Real vineyards. More than 50,000 hectares have burned across Ávila province, and many producers have yet to determine the full extent of the damage because firefighters continue to restrict access to affected areas. Over the past two decades, the region has emerged as one of Spain's leading sources of fine Garnacha, celebrated for rediscovering forgotten mountain vineyards and revealing the remarkable elegance the variety can achieve on granite soils. Many of those vineyards are planted to ungrafted bush vines approaching a century in age, painstakingly farmed by hand on steep mountain slopes. Some historic parcels have already been lost; others remain inaccessible as growers wait to learn what survives. A lost harvest is painful; the loss of vineyards like these reaches much further. They represent generations of farming, decades of adaptation to place, and a viticultural heritage that cannot be replaced.

Italy and Greece have also endured difficult summers, with wildfires affecting rural communities and agricultural landscapes as harvest draws closer. Olive groves have been decimated, homes destroyed, and entire communities disrupted. Although the circumstances differ from place to place, together they illustrate the challenges European growers have faced throughout 2026. Frost, hail, drought, heat, and fire have all left their mark before a single bottle of the vintage has been produced.

From thousands of miles away, there is little we can do except be aware of what these regions have endured and continue supporting them by choosing their wines. Whether it is a bottle from Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Sierra de Gredos, or another affected region, those purchases support growers, vineyard workers, merchants, and communities whose livelihoods depend on these landscapes. Long after the fires are extinguished, the headlines fade, and communities begin to heal, the work in the vineyard will continue. As a niece and cousin of firefighters, I have a deep appreciation for the men and women who run towards danger when everyone else is running towards safety. Here’s to those heroes and may those communities heal.