Moulin de Gassac Rouge

AFTER an admittedly disastrous spring the Irish summer has been quite respectable so far with reasonably warm days and nights and just occasional bouts of rain.

Spare a thought for the wine regions of Europe, however, some of whom have been experiencing their worst weather in a generation.

First there were the floods in Germany, Hungary and Austria, and now parts of south west France and the Pyrenees have been declared a disaster zone with some winemakers believing they will struggle to make any wine in 2013. Over 250ha in Cahors suffered an 80-100% loss and vineyards in Madiran and Gaillac have also suffered.