Little cheer for wine producers after Bordeaux vines wither

DEVASTATING frost caused wine production in Bordeaux to plummet by 40 per cent last year, the French region’s wine board has said, with some châteaux left with so little they chose not to bottle a 2017 vintage.

“The total harvest in 2017 was 3.5 million hectolitres, down 40 per cent on 2016,” said the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), adding that vineyards in Saintémilion had been the worst affected.

Some châteaux in France’s biggest wine-growing area had lost 90 per cent of their harvest while others had lost none, the council added. The final figures will be published this month and will show that 2017 produced France’s worst wine harvest since 1945.

Late frosts struck twice at the end of April, causing irrevocable damage to shoots and buds that emerged prematurely after a mild March. Among those worst hit, Château Climens in Barsac announced last week that it would make no noble “first” wine from 2017 for the first time since 1993. Château de Fieuzal in Pessac-léognan will not be making red or white wine in 2017. In Graves, Château Chantegrive will be making no red wine.

According to Allen Sichel, CIVB president, the situation could be salvaged in most cases because producers had held back stocks from 2015 and 2016, which were both “very generous vintages of very high quality”.

But Jeffrey Davies, of the Bordeaux merchant Signature Selections, warned producers against raising prices due to the drop in volumes.