France: Wine growers call for aid with more storms due

(TheLocal) - Wine growers in Bordeaux held an emergency meeting on Monday after thousands of acres of vineyards were destroyed in hail storms. With more extreme weather forecast, there could be worse news for Bordeaux and Burgundy vineyard-owners.

The year 2013 may not be a good vintage for French wine.

While most of France has been enjoying the summer weather, wine growers across the country have been left counting the costs after hail storms ravaged their crop.

And with 21 departments, including those around Bordeaux, the Loire Valley and Burgundy on storm alert, there may be worse still to come.

Earlier this summer some of Burgundy’s most prestigious vines including Pommard were destroyed by hail stones for the second year running.

And last weekend it was the turn of vineyards in Bordeaux to take a battering from the extreme weather, as hail storms destroyed an estimated 7,000 hectares of vines.

In all, 37, 000 hectares suffered varying degrees of damage.

The wine growers around Entre-deux-Mers were the hardest hit, with between 300 and 400 vineyard owners affected.

The cost of the damage has been estimated to be around €4,000 a hectare, and there are fears there will be knock-on effects including job losses.

To make matters worse, not all winegrowers were insured against the damage by hail.

One of those, Loic Roquefeuil from St Leon, lost 30 hectares of vines.

“There is nothing. It is frightening. With 200,000 bottles at €3 a piece, the loss is huge,” he told AFP.