Who'd be a vigneron?

Schadenfreude, joy provoked by the misery of others, is not a sentiment many of us will feel the day after Germany won the World Cup for the fourth time in its history. But this is a feeling widely felt when some natural disaster, such as the recent hail damage in Burgundy, befalls the French wine industry.

Perhaps this is not entirely surprising. After all, various different regions of France have produced the world's greatest wines for centuries, so there is some justifiable cause for envy. And there is also the widespread feeling, never...