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The frosty nights in April drive up the prices for the wines from the Bordelais: According to a report in the British daily newspaper "Times", the production volume could fall from the current 540 million hectolitres to as much as 300 million hectolitres. As a result, the prices of the 2017 vintage would rise by ten to twenty percent, the paper quotes estate owner Gavin Quinney of Château Baudac (Entre-Deux-Mers), who has drawn up a comprehensive analysis of the damage together with experts from the Chambre d'Agriculture de la Gironde.
According to this analysis, around 60 percent of the vineyards or around 65,000 hectares were damaged by frost. The estimated damage amounts to between 1.5 and two billion euros. The right bank was affected much more severely than the left bank. In some regions of Pomerol and Saint Emilion, about 80 percent of the shoots had frozen to death. In St-Estephe, Pauillac and St. Julien, on the other hand, the damage is minimal. Overall, Quinney estimates that the yield will be about 30 percent lower than in 2017. He said that even after the severe frost in 1991 and the storms of 2007, prices had risen massively.
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)