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Harvest

Can you pick fruit for free in France?

What to keep in mind before filling your basket with nature’s bounty this autumn

Heat brings early Bordeaux wine harvest — but not the earliest on record

Grapes need heat and sunlight to ripen

What does a winemaker in France actually do all day?

Vigneron Jonathan Hesford explains what happens behind the cellar door and the daily decisions involved in making wine

magazine

‘Why this was my most challenging harvest as a winemaker in France’

Vigneron Jonathan Hesford gives us a behind-the-scenes account of drought, hail and unreliable pickers in his mission to make wine in the Roussillon

Why people in France also call Toussaint break ‘the potato holidays’

What children do during these holidays has radically changed

Grape picking begins in Champagne amid growing shortage of workers

Vignerons are turning to workers from abroad due to a lack of local pickers

French winemakers harvest grapes by night to escape heatwave

Vignerons have had to work through the night to stop grapes from spoiling

‘My candid experiences of hiring grape pickers in France’

Vigneron Jonathan Hesford shares surprising stories of slackers, spliffs and gendarmes at his vineyard harvest

Grape harvest begins earlier than ever in south France due to heat

One producer says he always begin harvesting early, partly because of the location of his plot, but that climate change is also having an impact

When is the right time for grape picking in France?

One of the most stressful and difficult decisions a vigneron or winemaker has to make is when is the right time to harvest their grapes, writes winemaker Jonathan Hesford

Too soon to assess impact of forest fire on French rosé harvest

Dramatic images of the recent Var wildfires have led to fears of a bad harvest this year

An image of a bunch of grapes being picked from the vine

Worst wine harvest for 45 years predicted due to bad weather

The grape yield will be down by 24%-30%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, but this will not necessarily lead to a rise in wine prices

Harvesting the health benefits of French birch sap in spring

Have you spotted tubes attached to the trunks of birch trees recently? The season for collecting birch water - prized for its detoxifying properties - began earlier than usual this year

Where to buy the juiciest melons in France this summer

Across France, you will see shoppers prodding and sniffing as they search for the perfect juicy melon. Connexion looks at the fruit’s history and meets a passionate producer.

Tips on grape-picking work from one who has done it

With some areas of France starting to pick grapes early this year, along with annual stories of a shortage of seasonal workers, the idea of picking grapes is interesting. Brian McCulloch has picked grapes for a couple of vendange seasons. If the idea interests you, (and you do not want to go on one of those holidays where you pay to pick grapes) here is what you should know…

Harvest

Can you pick fruit for free in France?

Heat brings early Bordeaux wine harvest — but not the earliest on record

What does a winemaker in France actually do all day?

‘Why this was my most challenging harvest as a winemaker in France’

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Why people in France also call Toussaint break ‘the potato holidays’

Grape picking begins in Champagne amid growing shortage of workers

French winemakers harvest grapes by night to escape heatwave

‘My candid experiences of hiring grape pickers in France’

Grape harvest begins earlier than ever in south France due to heat

When is the right time for grape picking in France?

Too soon to assess impact of forest fire on French rosé harvest

Worst wine harvest for 45 years predicted due to bad weather

Harvesting the health benefits of French birch sap in spring

Where to buy the juiciest melons in France this summer

A French test drive with a difference...

French vineyards can now offer 'vendange vacations'

Signs good for fine (and early) French wine crop

Tips on grape-picking work from one who has done it

Grape expectations as harvests get under way

Farmers offer free combine harvester trips

Naturists harvest French vineyard grapes entirely nude

Winemakers blamed for grape thefts

Low wine harvest could damage economy, figures suggest

‘Catastrophic’ harvest for French olive oil

Crowd-funding boost for frost-hit vignerons

Apricot glut comes at wrong time for farms

Budburst season gives clues for year ahead