The European heat wave is giving French vintners a head start on this season's harvest as record temperatures produce sweet, plump grapes ready to be plucked from the vine weeks earlier than usual.

French student Anne-Sophie Jacquet works in the top-growth vintage Chateau Haut-Brion, in Pessac, outside Bordeaux, southwestern France, Aug. 13, 2003. Some French wine harvests began ahead of schedule in the season as a deadly heat wave continues scorching France. Usually, ripe grapes are gathered sometime in September.  [AP]

In Bordeaux, where hopes are high for an exceptional year, a few vintners began gathering grapes this week, though the harvest generally begins in mid-September.

At the Chateau Haut-Brion in Pessac, where workers started plucking white Sauvignon and Semillon grapes on Wednesday, one winemaker said the heat has produced a lush crop.

"We have superb grapes, with a very intense aroma," said Jean-Philippe Delmas, the vineyard's assistant director. While there are exceptions, "in general, the best vintage is an early vintage."

The vineyard in southwest France had to scramble to find about 40 workers available in August, when many French people typically go on vacation. Last year, harvesting started on Sept. 10.

Across Europe, the mercury has hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit for more than a week.

Meteo France forecaster Michel Daloz said the thermometer climbed toward 90 in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, down from nearly 104-degree heat Tuesday. The fortified city of Carcassone in the south roasted in 106-degree heat, while the Rhone Valley registered 102, Daloz said.

Many people unused to such heat are suffering through sleepless nights and unproductive days in offices without air conditioning. Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported.

It seems only winegrowers are delighted.

French vineyards have not seen such hot weather — considered key to producing exceptional wines of rare aromas, rich body and deep color — in more than a half century.

Many vintners throughout Europe say they've had the best conditions since the sweltering summer of 1947 — a legendary year for wine. The heat has brought early ripening and fewer grapes.

Jean-Michel Francois of the French government wine office Onivins said high-quality wine this year would help sales in the United States and Britain, where French wines have lost ground to those from New Zealand, Australia and South America.

A furor erupted in the United States earlier this year over France's refusal back the invasion of Iraq, in some cases sparking impromptu boycotts of French wine and cheese.

Some experts cautioned that it's still too early to predict a dazzling crop, as the weather needs to stay on track before all the grapes are harvested. Rain, hail or heavy winds could damage the vines.

"If we stay in these climatic conditions, until mid-September just to be sure, this will be a very good vintage," said Yann le Goaster, director of a federation of Bordeaux winemakers.

Vintners in the Beaujolais region, known for its light, fruity wines, already were celebrating.

The crop "is already going down in the annals of history, because of the early harvest but also because of the quality, which promises to be excellent," the Interprofessional Union of Beaujolais Wines said in a statement Tuesday.

Most Beaujolais winegrowers are expected to begin gathering grapes Thursday. The harvest there has never come so early in the season. Before now, the earliest was in 1893, when it began Aug. 25. Usually, ripe Beaujolais grapes are gathered sometime in September.

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