It was the start of the apero at the ‘Elegance de Volnay’ the other Saturday as the hail began its assault. The room went deathly quiet as the assembled tasters and vignerons held their breath.

Of-course, most of the Côte d’Or avoided hail, the epicentre being Volnay and Pommard. Walking through Volnay Taillepieds today, some vines without grapes, many stems damaged – of-course the leaves too – some fine clusters remain but a majority show some damage. There’s not too much pressure from rot on the hillside here but yields may still only be 20%, or less. But better to have hail in June – to give scarred grapes the chance to drop off – than close to harvesting…