The rows of vines have taken fall shades long before the time. Thursday, August 7, Olivier Verdale, an independent 61-year-old winemaker, goes back for the second time on his domain of Saint-Eutrope, on the heights of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, in Aude. A few kilometers away, the gigantic fire that touches the Corbières massif from the day before the day is not, at this time, still controlled. His vine is “Scalded”dried up by an excess heat. The leaves crash into dust, and grapes, which have become brown, seem cooked. “The vines are still standing, proof that the vineyards have played their role of fire-cutting, but the heat of the flames, which has charred everything in the fields and the neighboring wasteland, destroyed the convection harvest. »»
The winemaker, also president of the AOC Corbières, estimates his harvest. “If I save 10 % I will be happy because the feet that is not scalded are likely to have been impregnated by the smoke”deplores the one who for four generations has produced wines in Saint-Laurent. According to the mayor of the commune, Xavier de Volautat, himself a winegrower on the Palais estate, the whole vineyard of Saint-Laurent died, and that of other neighboring municipalities has also suffered a lot.
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