Another day, another report of storms and hail wreaking havoc through French vineyards.
After a very mixed start to the season with late frosts, snow and severe flooding, vignerons were already forecasting a difficult and potentially small harvest before the most recent problems. June 17th saw Vouvray subjected to a major hailstorm with golf ball sized hailstones ripping through the vines. 5 weeks later on 23rdJuly it was the turn of the Cote de Beaune as growers could do no more than stand and watch mother nature’s mid-afternoon assault on southern Beaune, Pommard and Volnay; some growers are reporting to have lost up to 90% of their harvest. Most recently Bordeaux and Champagne have been the victims with last Friday’s 10 minute battering laying waste to 20,000 hectares, principally in Entre deux Mers. Previous hopes of a modest harvest are now looking wildly optimistic with some growers struggling to salvage as much as 10% of a normal crop.
For growers already under severe pressure, this could well prove to be the tipping point with the level of damage potentially affecting harvests over the next 3 years.
(Picture credit, Gavin Quinney, Chateau Bauduc)
You really should have been there………………
There are tastings and then there are tastings and last month we served up the most phenomenal Italian Masterclass in the company of Michael Palij, Master of Wine, who steered us through some of his most recent discoveries (notably a Sardinian quartet which provided all the evidence you need of the revolution taking place in the island’s vineyards and cellars).