Loire 2022: Summer
The late-spring and summer months were some of the driest and warmest the Loire Valley has experienced. As Vincent Lieubeau put it, “every month was warmer than average, every month had less rainfall than usual”.
June was warm and dry, with record-breaking temperatures throughout the region on June 18th, including 39.1ºC in Nantes, 40.1ºC in Beaucouzé (near Angers) and 39.1ºC in Tours. This mid-month spike was the first of two heatwaves which punched through the already sauna-like conditions. The warm weather during May and June had one advantage, which was that the conditions were at least conducive to flowing (pictured below are the very first flowers I saw, in an eastern Touraine vineyard, in May 2022).
The vignerons of the Loire Valley tend not to make to big a deal of the flowering, other than noting the beautifully sweet, jasmine-like aroma as it hangs over the vineyard, nevertheless those who expressed an opinion said it went generally well. One dissenting voice was Pierre-Henri Gadais. “June was dry and hot for the flowering, although weirdly this warm and dry weather brought a little mildew, even though the humidity was low.”
Further dissent came from upstream, in the Central Vineyards, which endured very different conditions to the rest of the Loire Valley at this time. While the weather downstream was warm and dry in June, Arnaud Bourgeois described heavy rain. Data from the weather station at Bourges bears his story out, with 152.3 mm recorded during the month, almost three times the monthly average. There were two particularly heavy downpours, with 41 mm falling on the 21st, and 28 mm on the 30th.
