As temperatures across Bordeaux plunged below freezing in the predawn hours of April 27, the dark vineyards of the Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere lit up like a giant Halloween party. Workers spread out among the tight rows of decades-old vines, igniting bonfires to battle a frost that threatened grapes used to make wines costing $120 per bottle in London or New York. But by dawn, 80 percent of Canon La Gaffeliere's crop was dead on the vines just as they were budding. "We lit the fires, but it wasn't enough," says Magali Malet-Serres, the vineyard's marketing chief. "We soon realized temperatures had fallen so low there was little we could do."
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