Much of France is in the grips of the most severe drought since 2005.

No rain of any significance has fallen in the south of the country since October, and that has ramifications for brush fires and agriculture. Particularly in the vineyards.

The vines are struggling, here in the Languedoc. Some appear to have fewer bunches of grapes and the bunches that are emerging also seem smaller than usual.

As can be seen, above, some of the vines just don’t look good. At all. “Limp and lifeless” seems to sum it up.

This can be viewed in a couple of ways.

1. Wine production almost certainly will be down in the region. And, for that matter, throughout most of France, which has been in water-rationing mode since mid-August.

2. However … difficult weather, and particularly heat without much water, can produce a spectacular vintage. It’s not clear yet that will happen, but the chances of it are pretty strong.

This is all a mysterious concept to a Southern California city boy.

Where I’m from, you don’t expect crop yields if you are not irrigating, and southern France, like nearly all of Europe, irrigates almost not at all. Farmers depend on rain — which has been in short supply.

Again, being a SoCal person, you wander around this part of France and wonder: “Where are the reservoirs? Where are the aqueducts bringing in water from hundreds of miles away?”

That’s how it works in Southern California. But not here.

In recent weeks, the French government has issued more stringent measures to reduce water consumption. (Link in French.)

Farmers cannot increase their use of water; gardens cannot be watered; cars cannot be washed except at commercial sites. Roads are not to be washed.

Most French wine growers do not have the ability to water their vines — they just trust nature to provide.

It helps that underground aquifers are not far below the surface, and water is sucked up towards the surface, during drought.

But of late, even that is becoming strained. In the Languedoc town where we live, many fields (and even backyards) have water wells, and people are noticing that the water table is much lower than it was a year ago. Or even a few months ago.

Stats floating around suggest this is the driest year in this part of France in more than a decade, as well as the hottest, and the region has had some SoCal-style brush fires — several firefighters were injured in one blaze nor far from here. A significant chunk of the green local landscape has turned a scorched brown and homeowners out in the fields have been advised to clear the dead brush away from their houses.

So, all that can be done now is to bring in the grapes, such as they are, and this has begun. The big machines have been trundling through the vines, pulling the grapes off the plants. Taking whatever reduced grape juice has survived.

The hope is that the drought and the heat will do wonderful things for the wine made from those grapes that have emerged.

We should know fairly soon.