Abstract:
French records of grape-harvest dates in Burgundy were used to reconstruct
spring-summer temperatures from 1370 to 2003 using a process-based phenology
model developed for the Pinot Noir grape. Our results reveal that temperatures
as high as those reached in the 1990s have occurred several times in Burgundy
since 1370. However, the summer of 2003 appears to have been extraordinary,
with
... temperatures that were probably higher than in any other year since 1370.
Data set consists of Pinot Noir grape harvest dates for Burgundy, France, and
April-August Temperature Reconstruction.
The grape harvest date series is a corrected and updated harvest date series
from Le Roy Ladurie (1983) covering 1370 to 1977 and completed until 2003 for
the Burgundy region.
Grape harvest dates were collected from up to 18 cities or villages in
Burgundy (the actual number depends on the year) since 1370. To avoid
possible biases due to the variability of data availability each year, Dijon -
the longest series overall and the only one available for some periods - was
chosen as the reference series. However, the 17 other series were used to
take into account the regional variability. All series were standardized such
that they present the same average date as Dijon over their common recorded
period. For each year t the harvest date Ht was computed as the median date
among all available standardized dates including Dijon.
The temperature anomalies are with respect to the April to August mean
temperature of Dijon between 1960 and 1989. 
