We had some fabulous weather here leading up to Easter which caused the vine and fruit trees to blossom and start the the process of growing their fruit earlier than usual. Unfortunately large areas of France were hit by severe cold weather just after Easter and up until yesterday which has resulted in a massive loss in the vineyards and orchards. Every effort was made to save them with thousands of small fires, candles, paraffin and oil lamps, even helicopters were used to fight off the frost but, in many cases, to no avail. Our local Graves and Sauternes vines have been hard hit and there has been a pall of smoke and smell of fire in the air which is a sombre reminder of just how disastrous It’s been for our Winegrowers – The Government will have to step in. Here are a few pictures of better times and a prayer for a magnificent harvest in 2022;
redstuffdan 
Bonjour “redstuffdan”” – good to know that some compensation will be coming the way of the Vignerons but as you point out any 2021 vintage is likely to be very rare and expensive. I actually discovered your blog several years ago when I first started mine – for some reason haven’t been by for some time and then your latest photos popped up in my “Reader”. I love all your beautiful photos and am happy to have rediscovered your site. Helps to give me my “fix” of Europe now that we are not travelling overseas (in our lovely isolated bubble world here in Perth, Western Australia)!
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Bonjour Madame Thomas – Thankyou for spending time visiting redstuffdan – You will be pleased to know that the Vignerons (winegrowers) will be generously compensated by the government (taxpayers) to the tune of several billions of euros – Evidently the surviving 2021 vintages will become rare and a tad expensive – Not a great year.
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This is very sad to hear – I do know it has been unusually cold in Europe this spring. Do hope the winegrowers can receive some support. Hope 2022 will bring a bumper harvest!
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We love Californian Chardonnay – It’s always reminded us of Summer in a bottle but it has increased in price recently here in France so we have been sampling some nice burgundy ones. No doubt these natural disasters will impact us all for the forseeable future.
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I live near Napa, California’s wine center where we’ve had an ongoing struggle in recent years with forest fires and drought. There are so many hardships in producing a good bottle of wine.
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Bonjour Noelle – Thank you for dropping in – You are absolutely right, with the tariffs already imposed by the US, Brexit and now this the French industry is in for a rough ride. We’ll have to be more selective in our choices if we are to find bargain french wines in the future.
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I apologize that I haven’t checked in on your blog for a while! I read about this catastrophe recently and feel so depressed for the French wine growers. I do like French wine. This will be a win for the US growers but prices will be sky-high.
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Such a shame! We’ve experienced similar issues in Hautes-Alpes and the Var.
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