Hail storm wreaks havoc on Bordeaux region, will affect wine prices
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In just 10 minutes, five percent of the crop that would become 2013’s dry white Bordeaux was destroyed in a hail storm that ravaged the famous wine-producing region last Friday.
Due to the storm, which only lasted from 8:40 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. last Friday, the 2013 dry white Bordeaux from Entre-deux-Mers is set to become a rare commodity, which will greatly affect the pricing of the 2013 vintage.
“The storm was a damaging and dramatic event that could not have come at a worse time,” Christophe Château, spokesman for the French interest group Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) told news channel France 24.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to the CIVB, which represents nearly 10,000 Bordeaux wine producers and growers, the storm caused damage to around 50,000 acres of vineyards in the region. Such a devastating blow will have dramatic economic repercussions.
Stéphane Defraine, president of the Entre-deux-Mers Winegrowers Union, told The Drink Business that the storm has cost local growers and estimated $26 million (£17 million).
The storm was so powerful that it destroyed 5 percent of Bordeaux’s total vineyard area and impacted 10 percent of the region as a whole.
What does that mean for consumers? Be prepared to shell out a lot of cash for the precious few bottles of dry white Bordeaux made from the few hearty grapes that survived that storm.