Storms hit one of SmoothReds favourite destinations – Burgundy
At SmoothRed we have just been informed ,by Philippe de Marcilly (from the house of Bichot) that the storms that arrived late in the afternoon of 23rd July, have damaged a large proportion of the vineyards in the Beaune area of Burgundy, the appellations which were worst affected included Savigny les Beaune, Beaune, Pommard,Volnay, Meausault. We’ve been told it is too early in the season to say what effect it will have on the vineyards, but that it is certainly very serious.
Some producers have said that as much as 90% of their production may be lost. The storms included, strong winds, hail stones and driving rain, which had the effect of knocking the grapes off the vines and tearing through the leaves. As the Minister of Agriculture stated “if you see some of the plots you can see how violent it was, if the grapes burst open you can not harvest them, and if the leaves are damaged it depends how many remain to protect them”.
However, it appears that the vineyards in northern Burgundy, in the Cote de Nuits, were not affected.
And the photo below – taken from the Facebook page of a domain in Volnay – shows severe flooding.
