Almost two whole months of rain have nearly ruined large parts of this year's wine harvest in France. The damage is especially bad in Bordeaux. Mildew, thriving in the warm and humid weather, has wiped out entire crops of some of the smaller vineyards, attacking not only the leaves, but in some cases even the grapes. While it's certainly terrible news for the producers themselves, what does it mean for French wines as a whole?

From The Independant:

This is a calamity for the worst-hit growers but not necessarily for the French wine industry. A much reduced 2007 wine harvest might help to push up wholesale wine prices, which have been depressed by a glut of cheap wine on the world market.

Huge unsold stocks of table wine, and even the cheaper Appellation Contrôlée wines, remain from 2006 and 2005.

As for the quality of the 2007 vintage, all is still uncertain. A warm and dry late summer could still produce excellent wines.