Cold Snap in France Dashes Wine Hopes

When wine connoisseurs look back at the great French vintages of the late 20th Century, 1991 will almost certainly not be among them.

A single bout of freezing weather last weekend dashed wine producers’ hopes of a fourth successive year of copious, top-quality wine.

The cold killed buds on some of the country’s most fabled vineyards in Champagne, Bordeaux and Cognac. Other regions hit included Languedoc, Provence and Touraine.

Winemakers in Bordeaux say at least half the region’s wine production, worth about $700 million, was wiped out in one night of frost.