The full extent of the damage to Chablis vineyards remains unclear, but winemakers reported widespread damage
Supercell-type hailstorm began . destroyed large areas of the Chablis vineyards in Burgundy, dealing a devastating blow to the world-famous wine region.
The storm, which hit north-central France overnight, dumped hail the size of boule petanque on the city. Chablis and surrounding vineyards, Météo-France reports.
At least one person was killed in the landslide, buildings suffered extensive damage and flights to Paris were disrupted.
Full details Extent of damage damage to the Chablis vineyards remains unclear, but winemakers have reported widespread damage.
“The hail tore everything apart. It devastated a large part of the entire vineyard,” said Arnaud Nahan, co-owner of Domaine du Chardonnay in Chablis, estimating that “in some places we lost 100 percent [of the vines].”
< p> “This year it’s a disaster.” , he told AFP, adding that the alarm had already sounded at Easter due to floods that had inundated his land on the banks of the Serein River. They also had to contend with frost last week.
“In some villages the damage was quite significant,” said Frédéric Guéguin, vice-president of the Chablis producers' association.
“The shoots on the vines are still young and therefore fragile,” he added. “There won't be as much Chablis this year.”
A winegrower from the Domaine du Chardonnay walks through a flooded estate. during heavy rain throughout Burgundy last month. Photo: ARNAUD FINISTRE/AFP
Manufacturers have activated anti-hail guns designed to limit the growth of hailstones as they form and thus limit damage on the ground. But the system apparently could not prevent significant damage in the face of a storm of this size.
Sébastien Dauvissa, a Chablis winemaker with 11 hectares of vineyards producing between 40,000 and 50,000 bottles of wine each year, said: “I think that in some areas, if the vines are damaged by wind and hail, 70-80 percent of the vines will be destroyed.”
He warned that the next harvest “risks being jeopardized.” “The title, the profession, the people who work in the vineyards – this will affect everyone,” he told RTL.
“We already know that the 2024 harvest is over,” winemaker Daniel Etienne Defay wrote on his Facebook page. Facebook shares photos and videos of the streets of Chablis in the Yonne department in the rain and hail.
“No grass, no roads in sight. It’s like we’re in the mountains with ten centimeters of snow,” he said.
Forecaster Météo89 warned on Wednesday that several supercell systems (a type of rotating thunderstorm) were circulating in the region at the same time, foreshadowing a severe storm.< /p>Severe storms
Francoise Ruhr, head of the Burgundy wine council, said the hail had the effect of “shredding the leaves, causing leaves and future clusters” of grapes to fall off.
But she said it was “too early to say” how severe it would be damage.< /p>
Vinegrower Nathalie Febvre said that all the sites she visited were largely destroyed. Still, the season looked promising. “Miraculously, the frost didn’t affect us that much. We protected the vines with candles and heating wires.”
But then there were more than 3,400 lightning strikes in the region.
“An anti-hail system was installed, but it did not work. not effective. We use iodine generators that are aimed at clouds to reduce hail. Now we will take out a big box of tissues and cry… Nature has taken responsibility.”
The devastating hailstorm came as global wine production hit a historic low in 2023, and climate change may be to blame, according to a major report published last week.
The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) says that wine production has reached its lowest level since 1962. The intergovernmental organization has 50 member states, representing 75 percent of the world's vineyard area.
Experts blame “extreme environmental conditions,” including droughts and fires, for the decline in production. trend in production. While climate change is not entirely to blame, the OIV says these conditions are the biggest challenge facing the industry.
In the EU, wine production fell by 10 percent in 2023, the second-highest figure on record. volume of wine since the turn of the century.
The fall in production comes at the same time as news that wine consumption is at its lowest level since 1996 due to rising prices due to inflation and a sharp fall in wine consumption in China from -for the economic recession.
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