Frost returned to French vineyards early this month as France recorded its coldest April night since 1947.
Temperatures plunged to minus nine degrees Celsius in some parts of the Champagne region on the night between 3 and 4 April, with minus seven reported in areas around Bordeaux and minus six in Chablis.
Some winemakers lit candles and fires between vineyard rows to help protect young buds. Yet while scenes were reminiscent of the devastating frosts that struck French vineyards in April 2021, producer organisations cautioned against jumping to conclusions and noted potentially key differences this year.
Burgundy’s wine council, the BIVB, said: ‘It is much too soon to evaluate the consequences of this latest episode, which was very stressful for winemakers from Bourgogne, and across the whole of France.
‘Over the next few days, technicians will be checking various plots to evaluate the damage, and a preliminary assessment should be possible next week.’
The council also noted that ‘this event is different’ than the frost in 2021. ‘The vines are less advanced in the growth cycle and in general terms, the frost event was shorter and less intense. The weather returned to positive figures on Monday [4 April], and this is set to last until Easter,’ it said.
Some producers reported damage to new buds. Domaine Guilleman, based in Haut Bourgogne near the village of Marcenay, said on Instagram that it estimated losses of around 10 to 20%. ‘Everything depends on the vine’s stage of development,’ it wrote, adding Chardonnay vines more advanced in their growing cycle were most affected.
In Bordeaux, the local chamber of agriculture expressed solidarity with winemakers affected but also called for caution.
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‘Spring had begun’ in some vineyards, yet it will take at least a week to understand the impact of frost. Some buds may only have superficial damage’, it said, while adding that frost damage can be extremely site-specific – even within a single vineyard.
‘We stand with farmers and winegrowers, and our teams are mobilising to provide them with our technical, economic and financial expertise,’ said Jean-Louis Dubourg, president of the agriculture chamber for the Gironde region, which includes Bordeaux.
Jean-Francois Galhaud, president of St-Emilion’s wine council, said that a major issue with the severe frosts of April 2021 was that vines were running two weeks ahead of their growing schedule. This year, the cycle is more normal, he told the France 3 media outlet.
Bordeaux winemakers were among those seeking to protect vineyards using candles, although Sud-Ouest newspaper reported that smoke consequently settled in some areas of central Bordeaux.
Decanter understands there were cases of wineries halting their blending sessions for 2021-vintage en primeur wines, due to potential risks from smoke.
Researchers have previously linked spring frost damage in French vineyards to climate change.
Warmer temperatures kick-start the growing season earlier, making more vines susceptible to a sudden freeze, said the team from a range of institutions, including France’s national scientific research institute, CNRS, and the University of Oxford.
Springtime brings the so-called ‘Caldaia di Maggio’ to Barolo, a noise similar to a kettle simmering that is caused by evaporating water in the soils. This year, however, it’s unlikely that this phenomenon will occur.
Drought is affecting the entire north of Italy; predominantly the Langhe but also Valpolicella and Franciacorta. Not even Tuscany is spared. The vineyards are lacking the reserves of water that their soils usually contain at this time of year. Winter passed without snow in almost all the wine regions, and the weather – at the time of writing – is lacking considerable rainfall.
In the Langhe, 120 days passed without any water, as widely reported. Just a few millimetres of precipitation were registered over the weekend, and 10-15 ml on the 30 March. However, before this spring rain, the most recent precipitation dated back to November.
‘The last rainfalls we had prior to last week were between the end of November and the beginning of December. Since then, nothing,’ said Zvonimir Jurkovic, Podere Einaudi’s winemaker in Barolo.
‘But most concerning of all,’ Jurkovic added, was the absence of snowfall. ‘For those of us in Barolo, winter snow is crucial for accumulating water reserves on our steep hills with poor soil. No amount of rainfall could ever replace the snow in terms of effective absorption by the soil. Moreover, if it rains a lot in spring, the recovery of the water could affect the budburst and flowering phases with downy mildew,’ he said.
Nadia Cogno of Elvio Cogno added: ‘The rain is necessary now, but it can’t replace the snow. Unfortunately, the rain creates a problem of erosion for the Barolo vineyards which are very sensitive to this.’
Renzo Cotarella, CEO of Antinori Estate, has an outlook on Barolo (Prunotto) as well as Tuscany and Umbria. ‘The last rainfalls occurred in November. The situation is complicated mostly for the new vineyard plantings, which need at least 30 to 50mm. Umbria and southern Maremma received enough water the past weekend, less so for Chianti Classico and Bolgheri.
‘However, April is always the most generous month for rainfall in Italy, except for the 2017 vintage. In that year we had no rain for almost the entire growing season, and we barely scraped by. For the vines, a rainy April could be enough. What happens next will depend on the climatic trends of 2022.’
A good aspect of the drought alert for the north of Italy is that the season is not too anticipated,’ added Jurkovic ‘The temperatures have been mild, so with the exception of the Barolo village, there are no signs of the start of the season.’
