Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Spring in Armagnac comes quite early bringing rainy showers and sunshine in equal quantities. There is still a risk of frost until April in general.

Summer-time is typically quite hot with little rain and although daytime temperatures nowadays can reach 40°C (current record maximum temperatures is 42°C), the nights are generally cool which is of great benefit to the grapes that develop a thick skin where we find a lot of flavour. There is a marked change from 15th August onwards as summer turns to autumn. Indian summers are more and more commonplace. High summer temperatures also mean a lot of thunderstorms and lightening that can be a threat to developing grapes.

Autumn is a beautiful season in Armagnac that lasts for quite a long time. The sun is still very warm and it is still quite dry. There is a greater fluctuation between day and night temperatures. An increasing chance of fog in the month of November and December.

Winters are normally quite mild and humid. Over the last 20 years the winter temperatures have increased, so there has been far less chance of snow and even frosty mornings are quite rare except for in low lying areas. The lowest temperatures in recent years have been around -1°/-5°C

Climate change and the future – It is impossible to talk about climate without mentioning the obvious effect of the climatic changes that the world is experiencing.

It has been recorded in the 20th century that autumn and winter rainfall has increased from 5%-35% and there has been a drop in summer rainfall. Projected air temperature increases over France

compared with 1960-1990 is between 2.5°C and 3.5°C with increases higher in the south.

As for summer temperatures, according to forecasts, the record maximum could easily exceed 50°C by the end of the 21st century.

Precipitation in the southwest is expected to decrease (up to 20%) and increase in the north (source: https://www.climatechangepost.com/france/climate-change/)