In Morocco, a vineyard threatened by climate change: “Last year, we harvested under 49°C, it was a nightmare”

“Africa, land of wine” (4/4). Faced with very high temperatures and a chronic lack of water, producers are adapting, without assurance that the Moroccan vineyard will survive.

You can share an article by clicking on the share icons at the top right of it. The total or partial reproduction of an article, without the prior written authorization of Le Monde, is strictly prohibited. For more information, consult our general conditions of sale. For any authorization request, contact syndication@lemonde.fr. As a subscriber, you can gift up to five items per month to one of your loved ones using the “Gift an Item” feature. https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2024/08/21/au-maroc-la-vigne-sous-la-menace-du-rechauffement-climatique-l-an-passe-on-a-vendange-sous-les-49-c_6288608_3212.html Is Moroccan wine doomed to disappear? Such a scenario recently gave rise to shrugs of the shoulders among producers in the Shereef kingdom, but reality ended up catching up with even the most optimistic. Described by the United Nations as a territory in “water stress”, Morocco is going through its sixth consecutive year of drought in 2024, hit by repeated heat waves. The thermometer was close to 50°C in July and August. So much so that rising temperatures and a lack of water put the country’s vines at risk of possible extinction, according to French oenologist Jacques Poulain, one of the most alarmist. “It’s a disaster, the vines that I planted less than twenty years ago are dying,” worries the head winemaker of La Ferme Rouge, the number two in the market, whose approximately 300 hectares (ha) produce 6 million bottles per year.

You can share an article by clicking on the share icons at the top right of it. The total or partial reproduction of an article, without the prior written authorization of Le Monde, is strictly prohibited. For more information, consult our general conditions of sale. For any authorization request, contact syndication@lemonde.fr. As a subscriber, you can gift up to five items per month to one of your loved ones using the “Gift an Item” feature. https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2024/08/21/au-maroc-la-vigne-sous-la-menace-du-rechauffement-climatique-l-an-passe-on-a-vendange-sous-les-49-c_6288608_3212.html Located in the Zaër wine region, an hour’s drive south of Rabat, the estate, which Jacques Poulain joined in 2008 with Amine Sourelah, the son of a Moroccan general, is suffering the full brunt of the effects of global warming. “There has been no normal rainfall since 2018,” assures the native of Arcachon, who passed through Bordeaux, who estimates that barely 180 mm of water fell this year, compared to 700 mm seven years ago. “We stored water in winter in basins, before releasing it as needed in the spring, but they have been empty for four years. » Paradoxical situation Three days above 38°C and the vine “goes out of order” for nine days, he explains: “The sap gets blocked and the grapes are no longer nourished. » Nine days of intense heat will delay the harvest by three weeks. Result: the volume of grapes harvested fell. “Normally it’s between 7 and 10 tonnes per hectare. Today, we are happy if we make 4 tonnes. » Half an hour’s drive south of Meknes, on the foothills of the Middle Atlas, Domaine de Baccari, an old family vineyard