A cellar master always looks to the sky before consulting the calendar. So this year, we wanted to look far back into the past.

Since 1900, the wine archives have recorded the start date of the grape harvest in Champagne. One hundred and twenty-five years of records that tell the story – better than any long speech – of what the vineyard has been through.

In the 1980s, the harvest began on average on 29 September. In the 2020s, it starts around 28 August. A month earlier, over the course of forty years.

The latest start of the century? 1932, beginning on 14 October. The earliest? 2022, on 18 August (that was before 2026) — nearly two months earlier.

It’s not a straight line: some years hold steady, others accelerate; there remains significant year-on-year variability. But over four decades, the trend is unmistakable.