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Helicopters to the rescue

Not only do winegrowers suffer from frost damage but the entire wine industry does too

ANDREW J. LINN

Friday, 7 May 2021, 13:59

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A third of French wine production could be lost after the recent freak frosts. They also did massive damage to budding vines in many European winegrowing areas. Spain has mercifully been spared the worst, even though the north-east region has seen the lowest spring temperatures for decades.

Newspapers were full of photographs of spectacular beauty - entire vineyards lit up by small fires dotted over hundreds of hectares - lit in the hope of warding off the killer frosts. Some Burgundy vineyards will have a zero crop.

Italy's northern growing areas had their coldest nights since 2003, with temperatures at -3ºC, although Prosecco seems to have escaped the worst. Growers in Switzerland, Belgium, and Austria, as well as Slovakia and the Czech Republic, also resorted to extreme measures that had entire families in the vineyards every night. The huge candles and other measures are all costly, but when a family is faced with financial ruin, the simple choice is spend or starve.

Others sprinkled water continuously on the vines so the buds are protected when it freezes. Straw bales are lit not to provide heat, rather smoke that cocoons the vines.

Wind turbines can raise temperatures but are hugely expensive, as indeed are helicopters, fleets of which fly at low altitudes moving the freezing air upwards. The cost is 'only' about 250 euros per hectare, more economical than installing heaters.

Not only do winegrowers suffer from frost damage but the entire wine industry (coopers, companies producing and selling bottles, labels, laboratories, wine unions ...) all do.

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