A month in wine
Frosts hit Europe; Taittinger in the UK
ViNEyARDs ACRoss EuRopE suffered potentially devastating damage as a series of late spring frosts swept across the continent in late April.
Bordeaux experienced what many fear is the region’s worst frost in a quarter of a century, and regions as diverse as Champagne, the Languedoc, Alsace, the Loire Valley and Jura were also impacted. Damage was also reported in northern italy, switzerland, Germany and the uK.
Bordeaux’s Right Bank was particularly badly affected, with only the plateau of pomerol mostly spared. in some parts, ‘losses of 50% to 100% are envisaged’, said Thomas Duclos, associate oenologist at oenoteam.
The damage was especially bad because vines were already well into their growing season, thanks to the warm spring.
Farming union FDsEA described the damage as ‘devastating’ and added that, for those facing financial difficulties, ‘this frost has reduced winemakers’ hopes to nothing’.
several winemakers drew parallels with the notorious frosts of 1991 and, while some classified properties deployed helicopters to try to ward off the frost, many producers in Bordeaux and across Europe used heaters and controlled fires in a bid to raise temperatures.
in Champagne, the Côte des Bar in the south of the region was worst affected, leaving some growers under increasing pressure after a series of small crops left reserves at an all-time low. Champagne Louis Roederer estimated that it had lost 23% of its harvest on the Côte des Blancs, plus 35% to 40% on the Montagne de Reims and 15% to 20% in the Marne Valley.
The Aude area of the Languedoc around Narbonne was also badly hit, with Vignerons de l’Aude president Frédéric Rouanet reporting that some vines were ‘totally destroyed’.
The Loire – which also suffered serious frost damage last year – could see a 30% reduction in its 2017 crop, while Gérard schaffar in Alsace said he had never seen a frost of such magnitude. Losses were also pronounced in the Jura and the Valais region of switzerland.