1945, 1961
Bordeaux vintners were quick to note that great years like 1945 and 1961 were also hit by frost, with the surviving grapes ripening to perfection. The prospect of tighter supply could fuel demand for the region’s lauded 2016 vintage, just as the annual “en primeur” sale of futures gets under way.
In Champagne, as much as one-quarter of vines owned by the region’s 15,000 growers might be damaged, according to the industry’s trade body in the U.K. Because most Champagne is a blend of vintages, houses such as Laurent Perrier and LVMH-owned Moet & Chandon can tap into the equivalent of 200 million bottles kept in reserve tanks, along with a further 1.3 billion bottles aging in cellars. Producers say that will tide them over for now, but if the run of bad luck continues next year, shortages will appear.
“It’s a frost like we haven’t seen since 1991,” said Paul-Francois Vranken, chief executive officer of Vranken-Pommery Monopole SA. “We’re worried.”
Champagne has already been hit by a 14 percent drop in exports to the U.K. last year. Sales in Britain, the region’s largest overseas market by volume, have suffered from the plunge in the pound since the vote to leave the European Union last June.
While France was most affected, April’s frost damage spread across much of wine-producing Europe, damaging the vineyards that produce riesling in Germany, sparkling wine in southern England and Prosecco in northern Italy. Some Mediterranean regions were spared, though the cold also killed off apples, cherries and other crops.
‘All Hands’
In France’s Burgundy, growers were well-organized after a deep frost last year. This time around, when the forecasts predicted another freeze, they arranged a text-message chain and delivered hay bales to strategic spots. Beaune-based grower and merchant Alex Gambal woke at 5 a.m. on April 29 to clear skies and plunging temperatures. By 6:45 a.m., he said, bonfires created a purple haze across the vineyards.
“It was all hands on deck,” Gambal said. “Some of the old-timers compared it to 1957 and 1981. But a lot of them said they had never seen anything like it.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.