A complicated year for Champagne

The past three months have been disastrous for the Champagne vineyards because of the awful weather. This will be a make or break week in the grape growers fight against mildew.
Between mid-April and early May there were a succession of heavy frosts. The growers in the Côte des Bar were the most severely affected. In Les Riceys 200 grape growers had 75% of their vines destroyed. The buds were burnt by a surprise winter frost. They are going to have to use their reserve wines and grapes from undamaged vines to make this year’s Champagne if they want to compensate their losses.