Hail storm
- Geoffrey Finch
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Inestimable losses in the vineyards of Paris and the Île-de-France
“Nature is relentless and unchangeable, and it is indifferent as to whether its hidden reasons and actions are understandable to man or not.”Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer
A violent hail storm struck Paris and the Île-de-France on Saturday 3 May causing flooding and irreparable damage to vineyards.
Some hailstones exceeded 3 centimetres in diameter, bombarding the earth, ripping through leaves, and destroying flowering buds on vines.
It is still too early to determine how much damage was caused by the storm, which lasted only minutes, causing havoc on roads that resulted in traffic jams 180 kilometres long.
In my corner of Paris, the vineyards of the Jardin des Plantes and the Roman Arena were untouched.
According to Sylviane Leplatre, who makes the wine of all the Paris vineyards (Bercy, Clos des Morillons, Clos Montmartre, Clos Bergèyre, Clos des Envièrges - Belleville) there was damage at the Clos des Morillons, but there are no details.
Virginie Dulucq of Urbagri, who is responsible for the vines planted on the roof of the Municipal Police Department at 4 rue Lobau, 75004 reports that there was a bit of damage to the leaves of that vineyard, but nothing dramatic. As for the Domaine Gravelle in the Hippodrome of Paris, it was entirely missed.
In the Île-de-France there was damage at the Clos de Verdelot with hailstones between 3 and 22mm, and also Domaine Delorozoy, both in the Seine et Marne.
According to Daniel Kieszel of Domaine Bois Brillant in Guérard near Champagne, they were miraculously untouched, but others in the Seine et Marne, as mentioned above, have suffered.
When I spoke with Pierric Petit of Les Coteaux de Montguichet, he was in the middle of treating his vines with a mixture of organic foliar fertiliser mixed with silica to help repair the damage in the Chardonnay section of his vineyard, which he says show losses of between 10-15%.
According to Hughes Journaux who manages the Clos du Pas Saint-Maurice vineyard in Suresnes, “Saturday's hail caused fairly moderate damage to the vines in Suresnes. The percentage of breakage ranged from 5% to 15% depending on the location, a variation due to the different orientations of the rows.”
He adds that “in addition, the weather conditions before and after this episode were ideal, with wind. What's more, we had treated the whole plot just before, on 29 April, and we treated it again yesterday, Tuesday 6 May. So I'm not worried, there's nothing the vines can't overcome in my opinion.”
According to eVineyard, “Hail can reduce the crop, number of shoots and leaf wall, and partly or totally stop the normal flow of nutrients. As a result, a hail with over 50% damage suppresses the growth and development of remaining clusters by up to 20 days, while milder hail distracts the growth processes for about 10 to 14 days. At the same time, lateral shoots start to develop more intensively. For this reason, apart from the reduced yield, the hail can result in a crop of lower quality. That’s why it’s important to stimulate the growth of canopy and nutrients uptake after the hail damage.”
This is a rather incomplete account of the damage that the vineyards of the Paris region have suffered following this hail storm, as I still haven’t heard from several vineyards, but the consequences of hail, as indicated above, are far-reaching and long term, and so it will undoubtedly be a subject that emerges again in the future whenever the 2025 vintage comes up.
And the storm wasn’t limited to the Paris Region. Chablis in Northern Burgundy reports losses of up to 40%, which is disastrous following the already terrible 2024 vintage caused by persistent rains, which resulted in losses of up to 90%.
But life goes on and vintners are a hardy lot who tend to look upon such events philosophically, recognising, as in the quote at the beginning of this post that “nature is relentless and unchangeable, and it is indifferent as to whether its hidden reasons and actions are understandable to man or not”. Sometimes nature is benevolent, offering bounty and beauty, and although hail can be devastating, it is still far too early to say what the rest of the year will offer, and how that will impact vines. The coming months might bring perfect growing conditions and an excellent harvest. Or not. Santé