© AFP

Hail has damaged some of Chablis' best vineyards.

A hailstorm in Chablis has caused major damage to the region's vineyards.

Chablis vignerons have brought their harvest forward by several days in an attempt to salvage the harvest from vineyards devastated by hail.

The violent hailstorm struck in the early hours of Tuesday, hitting a narrow corridor running from Irancy and northwest to Chablis, exiting over the Blanchots Grand Cru vineyards to the east of the town of Chablis.

According to weather reports, up to 97mm of rain fell in a few hours in Chablis on Monday night. One vigneron, Concepcion George of Domaine George in Courgis, told AFP she doubted they would be able to save half the harvest. “I don’t know what we’ll be able to save. There’s nothing we can do. Ten months of work for nothing.”

The rain stopped by mid-afternoon on Tuesday and the clouds cleared – but this ironically was the last thing winemakers wanted, as the heat of the sun could accelerate rot in already damaged grapes.

About ten to fifteen per cent of the Chablis vineyard has been damaged, the majority of it in the best vineland, Louis Moreau of the Burgundy trade commission the BIVB told agencies. “It’s very localized, and a minority of the vineyard has been affected, but unfortunately in Chablis it’s the best part of the Grands Crus and some Premier Crus,” he said.

Damien Leclerc, director of the 300-winery cooperative Le Chablisienne, told French journal Le Point it was difficult to assess the entirety of the damage across Chablis.

“The main damage seems to be on the Irancy side, with between 50 and 100mm of rain coming in,” he said. “The storm came through the vineyards from the south.”

Nathalie Fevre of Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre in Fontenay said the Grand Cru vineyards of Les Clos and Blanchots looked as if a harvesting machine had passed through them. “There’s nothing left. We had rain and hail, then hail with more rain, then landslides.”

According to reports, there is an atmosphere of solidarity amongst those affected, with equipment being loaned and pickers moving between vineyards and helping out where they can.

Guillaume Michel of the 25-ha Domaine Louis Michel et Fils said things were “going pretty well. It’s too early to say whether the quality will be impacted but we will do everything to produce good wine. There’s going to be a lot of sorting, and a lot of care in the vinification.”