Damage caused by the recent hailstorms in Pauillac and St Estephe has prompted Chateau Lafite, Cos D'Estournel and Phelan-Segur to begin their harvests earlier than expected.

While he had originally planned to begin the harvest on September 8th or 9th, Cos d'Estournel managing director Jean-Guillaume Prats told Decanter that the estate has now begun its earliest harvest in 100 years.

"We are lucky that this vintage is [already] extremely early so the damage in terms of phenolic ripeness for the grapes should be very minor," he added.

"It is too early to say what will be the loss in volume."

Following rain at the weekend, conditions are now warm and windy, the ideal conditions for a harvest, and the quality at Phelan-Segur is said to be "much better than we expected".

Pessac Leognan, Grezillac in Entre-Deux-Mers and Saint Andre de Cubzac were also affected by the storms, which hit around 900 hectares of vines.