Looks like the price of wine is about to take a hike upwards. No, not Brexit this time (although that will increase prices too) but the awful weather we're getting at the moment. Places in Burgundy and Bordeaux have registered night time temperatures of minus 7 degrees more than once this last week or so! Unfortunately we had a reasonably warm February meaning that the vines had started budding, then what happens is that the severe frost essentially wipes the buds out causing a shock to the vine and limiting the number of grapes it can and will produce. The upshot of this kind of thing is usually that the harvest is much smaller in years like this and consequently the prices rise.
If you're wondering what's going on in the picture above, some vineyards (the richer ones) light candles in between the vines to stave of the worst of the frost, but this only works to a limited extent, another technique is to fly a helicopter over the vineyard (yes really!) this moves warmer air down and helps to prevent ground frost. Clearly only the very elite producers can afford this! Nature can be so cruel, who'd be a farmer!?
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