Lately the unusual weather patterns in Europe have been
making news.

Abnormal amounts of rain and snow in many places in Spain,
and terrific winds in

Southern France and Northern Spain, all affecting their
respective historical wines regions.

Fortunately, damage to the vines has been marginal. In
speaking to Carlos Rodriguez of Bodegas Ondalan, he gives thanks to the fact
that the vines are dormant and without leaves. Had this kind of wind hit when
fruit was on the vine, it would have been an unimaginable catastrophe.

With the torments having past, his thoughts have turned to
the future, and as to what effect all the heavy rains and snow will impact the
upcoming spring. “I think that the vines will be producing heavily and will
just mean a lot of work when we green cut. Having suffered though such a winter,
hopefully we will be lucky and have an above average summer.”

Also in France, we have similar news from Bertrand De Sercy
of Chateau Rocher in St. Emilon. “It is a real mess with the forests south of
us…many patches of trees completely toppled and blocking the roads…power lines
down, it’s terrible. Luckily for us and our vineyards there was no real damage,
but as you can imagine, we had some tiles blown of the roof and that sort of
thing.”  

With the latest storm occurring late last night/early
morning February 10th crippling power lines for millions of people in northern
France and halting air traffic at all Paris airports, we will certainly be watching
the weather patterns. So far there has not been any substantial damage to vines
or property of the producers we work with in France and Spain, but we will
continue to check the weather with a bit of tension.

–Peter Grisley