Panic as late frost devastates Bordeaux wine crop
FRENCH winegrowers are desperately hoping for a June bloom to save their harvest after a late freeze in April destroyed up to 90pc of some Bordeaux vines.
Producers frantically tried to battle the unseasonal cold snap by lighting fires in oil drums, carefully positioned between the rows, in an attempt to stop vines freezing at night.
They also used fans to stop cold, damp air from settling on the plants.
Emergency services flew helicopters over vineyards in another, equally unsuccessful, attempt to battle the freezing condensation.
Few plants were saved. The freeze left a grim landscape of shrivelled vines. The bitter cold struck twice in one week, ravaging the fragile shoots and buds that had emerged early after mild temperatures in March.
Winemakers are nervously anticipating the crucial June flowering phase, hoping that pollination will occur, saving at least some of their vines.
Bordeaux normally produces more than €2bn of wine each year and the loss could be as high as €1.5bn, according to CIVB, a wine industry association in the region.
Francois Despagne, who produces a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Chateau Grand Corbin-Despagne, said that 90pc of their vineyard “was damaged, more than I’ve seen in 20 years as a winegrower”.
Jean-Francois Galhaud, head of the Saint-Emilion Wine Council, which represents nearly 1,000 growers, said: “We have a hangover, as 80pc of our vineyard was hit by the frost. It’s all our work that has been wiped out.”
Rows of his Merlot vines stood barren, their leaves curled up.
Winegrowers say they have not suffered such a damaging frost since 1991.
The frost also hit all German vineyards.
“This is extremely rare,” said Ernst Buescher, of the German Wine Institute.
In Italy’s Tuscany region, 20pc of vines have been destroyed, valued at about €80bn, according to the Confagricoltura farmers’ association.
“Let’s cross our fingers that we have another 1961, a year with a small harvest that was of very good quality,” Mr Galhaud said. (© Daily Telegraph, London)