The fires and the vines – July 2026 photojournal

Many thanks to everyone for all the kind messages about keeping safe from the fires that have raged for more than a week near Bordeaux. We’re very touched.

Mercifully we’re just over 20 miles from the nearest blaze and hopefully we’d have some protection thanks to the river Garonne and a very different landscape on this side compared to the tinderbox of pine forests beyond the far side of the city.

Our thoughts are with those that have lost their homes or livelihoods, and our huge admiration and support goes to the firefighters, emergency services, army, police and all the volunteers, including many farmers, who have worked so hard to bring the mégafeu – as it is known here – under control. We won’t be the only people to give generously when the pompiers come round at Christmas with a satchel full of calendars.

What a catastrophe for those devastated forest areas but at least the beautiful isthmus of Cap Ferret was spared. Meanwhile, there’s really good news as many of the 220,000 people who were evacuated from their homes are allowed to return home from today as the situation stabilises.

Below are a stash of images to scroll through which you may find informative. We don’t intend to repeat all the stuff you may have seen on the telly, online or in the papers and there is, naturally enough, a nod towards the vines and the wine region as a whole.

Don’t miss my thrilling ‘Bordeaux vineyards and the Fires’ map. And several friends have asked how the vines are looking after all the heatwaves. Remarkably well, in fact, as the photo of the Merlot by the château taken on Wednesday 29th in the morning shows above. There are a few more at the end.

The maps

Google Maps has an option to see where the fires are, with an easy ‘Measure the distance’ as the crow flies. This is handy when there’s a large fire heading in your direction. We’re the blue dot on the right. To measure the distance on your phone, drop a pin by pressing the starting location for a second to two, then go down to the option ‘measure distance’. You then scroll across to the destination.

You can also see Bordeaux airport and it’s remarkable that it’s remained open throughout – it’s been used by friends and loved ones in the last week or so. Tragically two firemen died in a separate fire close to the airport 10 days ago.

This is the official map of the fire zone from the Préfète de la Gironde and you get a sense of how the pine forests out towards the sea are relatively remote compared to the highly populated area around the city of Bordeaux. There was a chance of Bordeaux being evacuated. Cap Ferret and Arcachon – the best known tourist spots – were spared by the fires

And now the fire zone in relation to the vineyards. It’s taken a while to put this map together as you can imagine. I’ve added the ‘Metropolitan’ boundary of Bordeaux to put the vines in context, compared to where the majority of people live (rather more important). I’ve also added longer distances so we can see how far the different appellations are from the fires.

There will be a lot of chat about the threat of smoke taint on the bunches of grapes prior to the harvest, and more on this anon. (In short, I’d be wary of who to trust on this, and don’t jump to conclusions too soon.) With this version of the map I’ve included our home of Château Bauduc, near Créon.

This is a map which could be shared by châteaux and the wine trade, so here’s a version without showing where Château Bauduc is. If you want a more accurate measure of how far a vineyard or appellation is from the fire, use the Google Map method I mentioned under the Google map screenshot above. For example, Pomerol is 50km in a straight line across from the closest point of the fire.

What isn’t clear from all the maps above is the timing of the fire, and you could have the impression that it was one huge incendie. (This also played a huge part, for the vineyards, as to when we had smoke.)

Just look at how quickly it spread. This was Thursday 23 July, in the early hours, compared to Friday evening, using Flamap.fr – one of many nifty sites.

Then Saturday evening around 8pm, and Sunday evening. Incredibly scary and it’s difficult to imagine how hard it must have been out there to stop the fires spreading.

By Tuesday there were multiple fires on all fronts. Then a more stable situation by Thursday morning, 30 July.

The burnt area remained the same as on Sunday morning at 42,000 hectares – over 100,000 acres. 220,000 people evacuated from 24 communes. 84,000 of these allowed to return home as announced on Thursday, 30 July, in addition to some previously.

There were further concerns about another heatwave – it was 40ºC here on Wednesday – but they kept control of the fires. Thankfully temperatures are coming down, as in low to mid thirties. Not exactly cool but still.

Thursday 30 July and a reminder in the Sud-Ouest newspaper that the 2026 fires are a follow-up to the forest fires of the summer of 2022, when 30,000 hectares were destroyed. Time to come up with a plan, Mesdames et Messieurs. For anyone planning summer holidays in the future, based on this map I’d be wary of destinations which are surrounded by pine forests.

No fiction Friday

Last Friday 23rd didn’t quite go as planned. We went to see a late afternoon showing of The Odyssey in Bordeaux, near Georgie’s and her boyfriend Paul’s flat in the centre. We hardly gave the fire out west a thought when we went in, but an hour in and the film suddenly stopped. The smoke detector had been activated and they couldn’t override it. As we left the cinema it was clear the wind had changed and there was a distinct aroma of woodsmoke.

While enjoying a quick drink afterwards we looked to see what was happening with the fire out towards the Atlantic coast on the NASA ‘fires’ website. Paul pointed out what appeared to be another fire, albeit quite small, and not far from home, south east of the city.

So after leaving Ange and Sophie at Bauduc I drove off to see if I could find it. It was just 4 miles from home, as the crow flies, near Capian. The temporary ’no entry’ sign at the end of a rural lane was a clue, so I drove around it. I did ask permission from a fireman who gave me a nod.

Now I’ve used old vines as barbecue fuel for years but I don’t think I’ve seen burnt ones standing in situ, as it were. It was most odd.

Beyond the smouldering rows of vines there was an old building and adjacent copse being hosed down by firemen.

None of the firemen, nor a fellow viticulteur I spoke to, could say how the fire had started.

The parched land and the bone-dry conditions were easy prey to a rogue fire (which I suspect was started accidentally somewhere near the building).

I imagine that some of these vehicles and their operators were soon to be called into action on the other side of Bordeaux.

The dried-out long grass had burnt right across this field. Thankfully no flammable forest nearby.

And although the grass had been set alight, the rows of vines had acted as a firebreak. The fire had petered out. One-nil to the vines.

Just 10kms away, by the side of the road, more burnt out rows of vines, set alight by the long grass. Only these were abandoned, overgrown vines. Thankfully the fire had died out. Someone we know said this had been caused by a mégot (cigarette butt) being thrown from a car, though I don’t know if that’s true. The authorities say that 9/10 fires are caused by humans.

Again, the vines weren’t that flammable, luckily.

The vines at Bauduc, end of July 2026

Sauvignon Blanc in the sun. I took these photos on 28 and 29 July. After a record number of days over 35ºC and bugger all rain, the vines still look remarkably green and vibrant.