Chablis prices set to soar as freak weather ruins up to half of harvest
Chablis prices are set to rise in the coming months as producers struggle with the effects of freak weather earlier in the year that destroyed up to half the region’s harvests.
Crops were battered by freak weather and hailstorms in mid-May, which followed severe frosts that eliminated many first buds in April.
“Chablis has been hit the hardest, anything between 30 and 50 per cent decimation of the crops this year,” Eamon Fitzgerald, managing director of Naked Wines, told Morning Wire “Prices are likely to be hit in the following year as well as vines just can’t recover that in the space of 12 months – they've been hit by the worst weather in a generation.
Read more: Weather shocks could threaten UK wine industry
Fitzgerald said harvests in other areas, including Sancerre, had been affected by the same weather conditions.
“The damage is definitely wider than has been reported, which means for lovers of fine French white wine, volumes will be down and prices are likely to go up,” he added.
Sales of other white wines will likely soar as Chablis becomes less readily available. Naked Wines said it was seeing a “wave of demand for chardonnay” unrivalled in 15 years.