‘We’ve never seen anything like it’: Early harvest rattles France’s wine industry

Claire Moses, Segolene Le StradicPARIS – Usually in August, the farmers that cultivate France’s famed Champagne grapes would be enjoying some downtime before the annual late-summer harvest.But in 2026, after an exceptionally hot summer, the harvest began in early August, weeks ahead of schedule, at a time when many growers and seasonal workers were still on vacation. That set off a scramble to find grape-pickers in a shortened harvesting window to ensure that the year’s crop wasn’t ruined.