Hail in Piedmont yesterday

[Arnt Egil Nordlien]

Got a message from Frode Refstad at the fine estate Tenuta il Sogno in San Marzano Oliveto. They were hard hit by hail yesterday. Very large hailstones that did disastrous damage. 70-80% of the young grapes was wrecked. Also a lot of damages to cars and roofs in the area. Don't know about the rest of Piedmont.

 

[Claude Kolm]

It's been a bad year so far. Much of the Var was hit badly, and earlier this week, the Côte d'Or was hit by a major storm. Too early to affect quality, but quantities will be way down.

 

[SFJoe]

Not to mention frost in the Touraine.

 

[Oliver McCrum]

Barolo and Barbaresco weren't affected, according to my producer Sergio Germano. I haven't checked with my producers in N. Piedmont or the Roero yet.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Champagne, too: click

 

[Eden Mylunsch]

Austria got hit on the night of 17 May. The Pulkau Valley in Wienviertel probably got the worst of it, but those wines aren't exported into the US as much as wines from other Niederösterreich regions; where we'll feel it the most here is in the wines from Kamptal, where a number of producers lost almost their entire crop. Kamptalians at VieVinum a few weeks ago seemed stoic about the situation, but everyone was feeling pain at one level or another. The frost was pretty widespread, so yields in 2012 from regions such as the Wachau, Burgenland, Steiermark, and Vienna itself will be lower than usual.

-Eden (getting "the wurst of it" in Austria is usually a good thing but not this year. Many growers said they never sausage a thing)

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
-Eden (getting "the wurst of it" in Austria is usually a good thing but not this year. Many growers said they never sausage a thing)

Eden, are you being frank with us?