Thunderstorms in Burgundy: why always in the same place?
For 3 years, or even 4 years for some plots, thunderstorms accompanied by hail have fallen in the same place: between Volnay and Meursault, including the villages and vineyards of Pommard, Monthélie, sometimes Auxey-Duresses or Saint-Romain. Every beginning of summer is now the anguish for many winegrowers who have seen their grape harvest destroyed several years in a row. While some have parcels of vines in several appellations, others concentrate their vineyard on one or two appellations, such as Pommard or Meursault. And in this case, if the vineyard is hail, they have nothing left. It was already very complicated for some after 2 years, it becomes disastrous when it happens again and again, in 2013 and 2014. Why systematically on this geographical area of the Côte de Beaune in Burgundy? The causes of these brief but violent storms remain mysterious, as well as the possible changes that would have led to these hailstorms focusing on this region reputee of the… burgundy vineyard. Thunderstorms and hail have always existed, it is a fatality feared by wine producers, because there is not much to do: several attempts have been made to dissolve if not mitigate these storms, without any success. In addition, hail insurance costs a fortune, which is why most winegrowers cannot subscribe to it. But until now hail fell randomly, in different places every year. Now, in Côte de Beaune it looks like systematics. Some put forward the hypothesis of deforestation on the high hillsides, which would coincide with the first years of disaster. Others talk about global warming and the currents that are being created in the valleys. No certainty for the moment, and especially still irreparable damagein 2014 and some winegrowers who may have to find palliative solutions to survive, hoping that in 2015 Dionysus, Bacchus and Saint-Vincent join forces to avoid yet another ravage on these magnificent vines. 
