Owners of the UK’s most popular Provence rosé, Maison Mirabeau, have spoken of their ‘agony’ following the severe wildfires that have swept across their land resulting in insurmountable damage to their vines.
In the past two days it has been reported that more than 7000 hectares of land across the Var region in France has been affected, with it thought that at least two people have lost their lives. Within this popular wine-growing district decades worth of growth has been razed to the ground, whihle many estates had to be evacuated, including Château des Bertrands, Ultimate Provence and Château St Roux.
It is thought that the blaze began after a discarded cigarette butt took hold in a patch of fry grass, but commentators say the conditions are a wider sign of the need to do more in the face of climate change. Writing on a heart-felt Instagram post, British-born Stephen Cronk, CEO and Co-Founder of Maison Mirabeau commented, “Whilst we are still taking in the magnitude of what has happened, we hope this will serve as a further wakeup call that these types of events will be more frequent and more devastating to all of us.”
More than 1200 firefighters are thought to have been called upon to help tackle the blaze, while a dozen aircrafts were employed to try to help contain the spread of flames. On the ground it has been reported that farmers too struggled against the natural disaster to try to save their land. In the same social media post, Cronk thanked one of the vineyard’s own farmers who they say worked tirelessly with the fire service to protect their land, resulting in the safety of all buildings, animals, and people on the grounds.
Next steps for the winery are unclear, given that the damage is so severe, but Maison Mirabeau seem determined to rebuild their estate, finishing the post by saying: “Even if it seems a futile effort in the face of all the biodiversity that has gone up in smoke in such a short space of time, we must start again as soon as possible."
“Our thoughts are with our local community of winegrowers, partners, as well as the many people who live in the area and have lost their homes and livelihoods.” They added.
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