Champagne vineyards hit by fungus in wet summer
Third-generation champagne maker Maxime Toubart is having a difficult year.
His corner of France had the second wettest early summer period since records began in the 1960s.
300 mm of rain over the past two months, 10 times what he would normally expect.
That rain caused mildew fungus which has damaged large parts of his vineyard.
Toubart he feels helpless.
'We have never seen such a serious case of mildew fungus. We already had frost during spring and lost 30% of the harvest. We are now losing another 30% with the mildew, so we've lost more than half the harvest in just a few weeks."
Fungus attacks the grapes and causes the leaves to dry up.
One industry lobby group says overall half of the harvest will be lost.
Careful planning to protect the vines helped growers limit losses.
But reserves from earlier vintages mean there should be no impact on supplies of champagne to the market.
