I've just finished a three day wine tourism class, where I teach some 'best practise' principles to wine makers. Had a really good group from Chateau La Louviere (Lurton), Millesima wine merchants, Chateau d'Arche in Sauternes, among others.
They told me that the frost that has devastated much of Muscadet (I talked about it last week, plus it's been widely reported http://www.harpers.co.uk/harvest-report/5542/Frost-hits-Muscadet-harvest.ehtml ) has also been widespread in Bordeaux.
Apparently 15% of the crop at Domaine de Chevalier has gone (this chateau is in a particularly precarious spot, and is often prone to bad frost damage), up to 70% damage reported in the southern Graves around Langon, and large areas also gone in St Emilion and the Medoc. The winemakers aren't talking about it yet because they are assessing the long-term damage, but wine merchants are worried that a smaller 2008 crop will... you guessed it... put up prices of 2007.
Vines can, incidentally, bud again if there is frost at this stage of the growing season, but these secondary buds are not as productive - often the produce green leaves but no fruit, or much reduced fruit. So it really is economically a severe problem.
