Lovers of French wine were crying into their glasses of plonk on Tuesday after a truck overturned and spilled its load of 18,000 bottles of a famous fine wine.

Eulogies for lost tipple poured in on Twitter.

Wine connoisseurs mourned the loss of 18,000 bottles of 2011 Saint-Emilion Grand Cru on Tuesday after the truck carrying the booze flipped over on a French highway.

It appears the truck driver failed to navigate a turn in a roundabout on the outskirts of the tiny southwestern France village of Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens on Tuesday when disaster struck, French newspaper Sud Ouest reported.