This Europe: Hercules' blood runs dry after storms destroy fabled grapes

Normally in the early autumn, the ancient vineyards in the Nemea region of southern Greece would be making the year's vintage of the deep red wine often called "Hercules blood".

Normally in the early autumn, the ancient vineyards in the Nemea region of southern Greece would be making the year's vintage of the deep red wine often called "Hercules blood". This season the grapes are rotting on the vine.

Unusually heavy rains during the pre-harvest period in late August wiped out 95 per cent of the Nemea crop.

For this small patch in Europe's south-eastern corner, the devastation was nearly total. There will be no 2002 vintage of Nemea red, one of the most popular wines in Greece. "It was looking like a good year, but then it rained every day and the grapes couldn't take it," said Giorgos Balafas, a grower. "I have two hectares, and nothing survived."

The typically hot and dry August weather is needed for the Nemea grapes to ripen properly. Strong-tasting, the wine is often referred to as "Hercules' blood" after the mythological hero who strangled a lion in the beautiful valley. The 2,330-year-old Temple of Zeus – king of the gods and Hercules' father – stands in the middle of the vineyards, about 90 miles south-west of Athens.

Nemea's grapes normally yield more than 15,000 tonnes of wine a year. The head of Nemea's wine co-operative, Giorgos Pigadiotis, pulled out a bunch of withered grapes and threw them on the ground. "There won't even be enough wine this year to fill a barrel in my cellar," he said. (AP)