A Sour Taste for Bordeaux Vintners

(WSJ) - Heavy rain and destructive hailstorms soaked France's most famous wine region this year, and now its vintners are reaping the consequence: One of the worst grape harvests in decades.

Mother Nature's ill temper swept through France's prestige wine regions, and Bordeaux has borne the brunt of the turmoil. Hail wiped out vineyards in Entre-Deux-Mers, one of Bordeaux's largest regions, and the government says the Bordeaux harvest will tumble 19% this year.

Bordeaux is the world's largest fine-wine region, and it produces some of the most sought-after wines. In recent years, a string of highly rated vintages has seen prices for its very top wines, classified as first growths, increase to as much as $3,000 a bottle.

France has had a run of good vintages over the past decade; 2009 and 2010 were excellent or superb in most major regions. The high quality has helped keep France at the apex of the world's fine-wine production.

"We haven't had a really bad growing season for 20 years and this is it," said British winemaker Gavin Quinney, proprietor of Bordeaux's Château Bauduc. "It makes you realize you rely on nature and sometimes it is not with you."

Growers expect volumes in Bordeaux this year to be some of the smallest for two decades. Unfortunately for France, other parts of Europe—especially Spain—have had a good year. Overall, European farming group Copa-Cogeca estimates show the continent's wine harvest up 15% on last year's levels.