On Monday, 18 July, the thermometer hit over 40 degrees Celsius almost everywhere in the Bordelais. And this was after two large forest fires had already kept the population and the fire brigade battling for a whole week: on the afternoon of Tuesday, 12 July, fires were first reported in La Teste-de-Buch, near local recreation area Le Bassin d'Arcachon, and almost simultaneously in Landiras, right on the border of the world-famous Sauternes AOC.

Although 2000 firefighters from all over France have now been deployed, and despite two Dash-8 turboprop aircraft and eight Canadair fire-fighting planes being brought in to dowse the area in water, the fires have continued to spread in recent days. According to the local prefecture, by noon on Tuesday, 37,000 people had already had to flee their homes in search of safety. Several campsites have burnt to the ground, and when the zoo at La-Teste-de-Buch was evacuated, numerous animals died from the heat, stress and smoke.

Situation critical in Sauternes

For the Bordeaux wine community, the situation in the south near Landiras, in particular, is a major cause for concern: the fires are currently only about seven or eight kilometres from the village of Bommes, which is part of the Sauternes appellation. Classified estates such as La Tour Blanche, Sigalas-Rabaud, Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Clos Haut Peyraguey and La Rayne Vigneau are household names for every lover of the acclaimed Vins Liquoreux. They are not yet directly threatened by the fire but already, depending on the direction of the prevailing wind; the smoke has started to drift over the vineyards.  “We are very worried,” the owner of one château confided to Falstaff over the phone, “this morning, there was a westerly wind driving the fires in our direction; the wind has thankfully shifted since then, but who knows for how long?”.

An employee of another château was equally worried about recent events. And she is annoyed by the public perception of the catastrophe: “Of course, this is just my personal opinion, but it drives me up the wall when the newspapers and TV say that an exceptional heat wave has caused the fires. No, it's not an exceptional heat wave - it’s climate change!”.

The châteaux join the fight

“Above all, I feel for the people who have had to leave their homes”, says Pierre-Baptiste Fontaine, director of the AOC Sauternes-Barsac. It’s still too early to assess the potential consequences for the 2022 harvest, but all the wineries in the AOC are very concerned: “They are doing everything in their power to support the firefighting efforts - for instance, by providing places to sleep for the firefighters coming from all over France and by supplying them with water and food”. At Château La Tour Blanche, for example, which is not only a classified winery but also a viticulture school and summer holiday destination, there are plenty of rooms to offer towards the fight.

“Of course, we hope that the wind will keep the smoke away from the vineyards,” Fontaine says at the end of the phone call. The best thing would be heavy rain. But the meteorologists at MeteoFrance are giving little cause for hope in that regard: they forecast sunny and dry weather for the next ten days, with temperatures between 28 and 33 degrees.