Chateau d'Yquem will not be producing a 2012 vintage after harvest rain prevented the grapes from reaching the levels of concentration required to make the world's most famous sweet wine, reports France 24.
Pierre Lurton, who runs the celebrated estate behind the Sauternes wine for its main shareholder LVMH, said the decision, which will cost the luxury goods group tens of millions of euros (dollars), had been taken to maintain Yquem's reputation for excellence.
"We tried our best but unfortunately the weather was not with us this year," Lurton told AFP.
"A brand like Yquem has to be prepared to not make a vintage. For the image of one of the world's great white wines and for Yquem's place in history, it was a reasonable decision not to make a wine this year."
Similar decisions were taken in 1952, 1972 and 1992. "It is as if there was a curse on us every 20 years," Lurton added with a smile.
Despite advances in technology, the production of sweet wine in the Sauternes area of southwestern France remains hugely vulnerable to the vagaries of weather.
The sweetness of the wine comes from grapes that have been left on the vines long enough to be affected by noble rot, which bolsters sugar levels and imparts the complex notes of fruit, honey and nuts that make Sauternes the benchmark for dessert wines around the world.
For the rot to develop, producers rely on a combination of autumnal morning mists and mid-day sunshine that occur most but not all years.
"We were cropping some good stuff at the beginning (of the harvest) this year but then we had a lot of rain," Lurton said.
Read more of this report from France 24.