2012 European wine harvest "worst in half-century" (grape, bottle, flavor)

[OpenD]

Wow, this is startling news. The French wine harvest, especially Chardonnay, is reported to be down by 20% over 2011, which was already down over the year before. :

"...drought, cold and hail have conspired to produce the worst wine harvest for the region in up to half a century."

So I see higher prices ahead, and increased marketing of wines from other parts of the world. Ironically, experts are saying the quality of the wine could be improved due to concentration of flavors. We shall see...

Europe sees worst wine harvest in half a century

[Nerys52SoSilver]

is not only the wine , the food harvest was also affected by all sorts of bad weather , food prices & wine prices are getting higher

[SluggoF16]

Historically a "poor" harvest for wine results in a superior vintage. Not always, of course, especially if the poor harvest was caused by a late frost. Wine Spectator reported that white burgundy (chardonnay) will be a small vintage, which of course may mean higher prices, but that will also hinge on the quality.

[smokingGun]

Small harvest is just another headache for white Burg producers. They're already tainted by the premox issue. The only ppl buying their bottles for cellaring now are the Chinese, who don't seem to care about these quality issues. I just wonder how much this will affect NV Champagne's, especially grower-producers who don't contract out for their grapes.