Swiss grape harvest begins earlier than usual

In many regions, the grape harvest is set to begin as early as August this year. The yield is likely to be lower than in other years, but the quality of the 2026 vintage is “promising”.

Several winegrowers, such as the Obrecht family in the Jenins wine-growing region of the Bündner Herrschaft, have already started harvesting grapes this week. This means that the “Läset” is taking place around three weeks earlier than usual in most of Switzerland’s wine-growing regions.

In the cantons of Schaffhausen and Thurgau, wine-growing commissioner Hansueli Pfenninger is expecting “a very early start to the harvest” – from the end of August. This situation has already occurred in 2003 and 2018. And just as in those two exceptional years, Pfenninger is also expecting an outstanding vintage in 2026.

Small grapes

In Graubünden, too, the drought will affect the grape harvest, predicts his colleague Walter Fromm. However, the lack of moisture does not affect all regions to the same extent. West of Maienfeld and east of Fläsch, the vineyards with light soils and low water-retention capacity are most at risk. It is also striking in many places that the grapes have turned out very small due to the lack of water.

+ Swiss winegrowers begin harvest in mid-August for first time

In some cantons of French-speaking Switzerland, there has never before been such an early grape harvest in August. Rémy Alain Reymond, head of the Neuchâtel Office for Viticulture and Agroecology, speaks of a “historically early ripening”. “We had expected a very early vintage, and yet many winegrowers are still surprised by it,” he added.

In Valais, the grape harvest is expected to begin in the week of August 24 for certain well-exposed vineyards and to extend to the entire region from August 31 onwards, which is particularly early. “According to ripeness checks, we are currently between six and twelve days ahead of 2022, which was a hot year,” the Valais Office for Viticulture and Wine told the Keystone-SDA news agency in response to an enquiry.

In the canton of Geneva, the harvest timing is classified as “rather normal for a year with a heatwave”, explained Dorian Pajic, head of the Viticulture and Oenology Programme at the Cantonal Office for Agriculture and Nature.

Heat determines quality

Finally, in the canton of Vaud, the grape harvest will begin in early September, around two days later than in 2003. It holds the record for the earliest harvest, as François Montet, president of the Vaud Winegrowers’ Association, emphasised. He noted, however, that the heatwave had no influence on the timing of the harvest.

This is determined by the timing of the vines’ flowering, which in turn is influenced by the spring warmth. The summer heatwave, on the other hand, determines the quality, he said, predicting that the 2026 vintage would be of very high quality.

Nevertheless, there are some concerns. According to oenologists, extreme heat and very strong sunlight can cause the grapes to scorch and suffer sunburn, which may lead to crop losses. Water shortages are also detrimental to the harvest yield. That is why many winegrowers are hoping for a few rain showers before they begin the harvest.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.