Winegrowers in northeast France are puzzled over the mysterious destruction of large swaths of two vineyards in Alsace, a region along the German border known for full-bodied white wines.
Saboteurs using long-handled pruning shears destroyed about 2,800 grape vines in the past two weeks by slashing their stems close to the soil, the director of the Alsace Wine Growers Association said Friday.
“We don’t really know who could have done this, whether it’s the work of a lunatic – or if it’s a settling of scores,” Jean-Paul Goulby said. “It’s very strange.”
The value of the damage is difficult to estimate, Goulby said, because future crops must be taken into account.