What last week's storm did to the Côte de Beaune

With all the difficulties of the vine-growing season of 2013 – a particularly long winter and almost non-existent spring with cold and wet weather continuing in May and June – Burgundy's winemakers had battled hard against the elements before July's very welcome strong sunshine. Flowering was late and, with flower-shatter; yields appeared set to follow the low levels of 2010, 2011 and 2012.

But what happened to the Côte de Beaune on the afternoon of 23 July was truly exceptional (and much worse...