Killer Drought Boon to French Wine Industry : Vintage Year Being Predicted as Grape Harvest Begins Several Weeks Early

The worst drought since 1976 is wiping out crops and pastures in southern and western France, but wine producers say the scorching summer is the best news that they have had in years.

While angry farmers are turning violent to squeeze more compensation out of the government, the vineyards are predicting a vintage year.

Helped by the longest dry spell in 13 years, growers in the Muscadet area of western France began picking their grapes Friday, three weeks earlier than usual.

“The seasonal temperatures and the amount of sunshine have been very favorable for the vines; 1989 will definitely be a great year, like ‘47, ’59 and ‘76,” said Marcel Martin, chairman of the winegrowers’ guild of the Pays de Loire.

“The grape is perfectly golden. The wine will be supple, clear and fruity,” he added.

Further down the coast, growers in the Bordeaux region say they will start picking grapes for white Graves wine at the end of the month. Producers of red St. Emilion will start Sept. 4, 10 days early.

Other Crops Suffer

The long, hot, dry summer, coming after a mild winter, has left the soil bone dry in most of the area west of a line from the Normandy coast in the north to Nice on the Mediterranean.

The French farmers’ union estimates that 300,000 producers in Western Europe’s biggest agricultural exporting country have been hit by the scorching weather. Corn and barley growers are complaining of withered crops and some beef and dairy farmers are having trouble raising the cash to buy grain to feed their herds.

The water table in several regions has fallen dramatically.

The south has suffered badly. Furious farmers pelted Agriculture Minister Henri Nallet’s car with tomatoes, rotten eggs and fireworks when he arrived in this southern village Thursday during a tour of one of the worst-hit regions.

More than 60 paramilitary gendarmes clutching automatic rifles and riot shields protected Nallet from the wrath of mainly young farmers. Like all major farm groups, they denounced as inadequate an $89-million drought compensation package announced by the minister Wednesday.

Nallet has described the rescue package as a temporary measure to help the worst-hit farmers while the government waits for a better picture of the extent of damage. Nallet told farmers in Villefrance that Paris would use a satellite to examine fields and assess losses.

National farm groups have not issued an estimate of total losses but have threatened violence unless there is more money.

First Step

Nallet has rejected a “drought tax” like the one that the right-wing government of former Prime Minister Raymond Barre levied on workers in 1976 to compensate farmers whose crops and livestock were damaged that year.

He repeatedly said the rescue package was a first step. The government would approach the European Community and approve further measures if necessary.

Spain and Italy are also hoping that the EC will help bail out their drought-stricken farmers.