Some of the finest vineyards in Alsace have been destroyed by violent hailstorms mixed with intense rain showers last week.
The hail wreaked havoc on five Alsatian communes – some with grand cru vineyards including Domaines Trimbach and Weinbach.
'I have never seen so much damage so quickly,' said Frédéric Blanck of Domaine Paul Blanck, which lost 60% of its 2007 harvest, including the grand cru Mambourg and parts of Furstentum.
It took about one hour last Wednesday evening for 115mm of rain to pour on vines in Kientzheim and Sigolsheim, mixed with hail, Blanck said.
Entire vineyards – 100% of vines – at Bennwihr, Beblenheim and Mittelwihr were destroyed by the storm. Vineyard workers worked around the clock trying to save what they could.
'You'd think that you were in the dead of winter when you see the landscape,' Pierre Trimbach, winemaker at Domaine Trimbach, told decanter.com.
Continues at http://www.decanter.com/news/125985.html
