During my March trip to the Côte des Blancs, I kept making the same joke when I met winemakers:
“I’ve brought the English weather!”
No, I hadn’t brought rain and wind, but - much to their relief - a week of dry weather. It has been an absolutely sodden winter in Champagne: mayor of Ambonnay Eric Rodez reported over 570mm of winter rainfall (up around 70% on last year), whereas Jérôme Prévost posted on instagram that they had had almost 50mm in just the last week.
But rain in winter is fine, isn’t it? There are no grapes on the vine to rot, no leaves to succumb to mildew…what’s the problem?
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