Catastrophic damage. Lacerated vines. Severe frost.聽This past week’s reports out of France read like a doomsday novel for anyone who loves a nice Grand Cru.
French wine growers know all too well how unpredictable weather can wreak havoc on their growing season. This year mother nature turned it up a notch. Severe frost from Burgundy to Loire forced vineyard owners to take drastic measures. In the Loire Valley growers used sprinklers to聽coat聽their vines聽with ice to insulate them against even colder temperatures.聽Budding vines in聽Champagne suffered聽under a fresh blanket of snow and a severe聽hailstorm聽in Beaune sliced through聽new growth聽on vines in Pommard, Volnay, and M芒connais.
Meanwhile crews in Burgundy took more drastic measures. From far away it looks聽like a pleasant scene of Christmas lights.
Up close it’s a much different story, as crews lit torches in the vineyards to protect against the frost.
Caroline Parent-Gros, of Domaine AF Gros聽in Pommard told Decanter聽“Such a frost is unseen since 1981 and it could have consequences not only on the yields of the Burgundy 2016 harvest but also on the yields of 2017.”聽In聽M芒connais and Pouilly-Fuisse the budding vines were so badly damaged by hail that a few聽vineyards estimate near 100% loss.聽Jean-Philippe Bret told Decanter he hopes the vines will recover with聽secondary bud growth, but the next few weeks will be crucial.
These incredible photos were taken by Aur茅lien Ibanez, a photographer based in Burgundy. You can see more of them on his Facebook page.
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Desperate growers in Burgundy light fires to save their prestigious crus. Click To Tweet
Via Decanter
