Bad hail in Maconnais, Beaujolais?

[Robin Garr]

Just got this in an Email, purportedly passed along from Clive Coates. A few days old, but I don't recall seeing mention of it here before. This could be bad news for fans of the wines from both regions for 2008:

The southernmost part of the Mâconnais and the northern sector of the Beaujolais suffered a devastating hail-storm during the night of Thursday 7th. August. Reports circulate of hail stones as big as tennis balls, not only knocking of what would have been this year's harvest, but badly damaging the green shoots as well. As it is this year's canes which will provide the wood on which next year's harvest will develop, this damage may well compromise the 2009 vintage. We saw this in 2004/2005.

The storm seems to have centered on Saint-Verand. Juliénas, Saint-Amour, Chénas and Moulin-à-Vent in the Beaujolais, and Leynes, Pruzilly, Chaintré, Fuissé and Vinzelles in the Mâconnais are the worst-affected villages.

[Jenise]

I hope the reports are greatly exaggerated, though sadly they're not likely to be.

Btw, have you ever seen hail that size? I never have, and I'm beginning to think it's the stuff of legend.

I hope the reports are greatly exaggerated, though sadly they're not likely to be.

Btw, have you ever seen hail that size? I never have, and I'm beginning to think it's the stuff of legend.

Jenise
Nearest to that I've seen is in Sydney, Australia. They put a few dents in the cars on the street that day.
regards
Ian

Btw, have you ever seen hail that size? I never have, and I'm beginning to think it's the stuff of legend.

I've seen golf ball size dozens of times, so tennis balls don't seem out of the question. The Wikipedia article on hail says on rare occasions up to 6 inches (a LOT bigger than tennis balls), citing an Encyclopedia Britannica source.
This has pictures and a report of a 14 cm (a little under 6 inches) stone
http://australiasevereweather.com/storm ... rc1997.htm

In the US South periodically hail will severely damage cars.

[James Roscoe]

I have seen the golf ball sized hail as well in the DC area, not in Podunk, Kansas. We had some within the past few weeks. i would not want to see it any bigger.

There is more coverage of the hail situation at "The Pour," Eric Asimov's blog at http://www.nytimes.com