(Dijon) The damage in the vineyards of Burgundy, due to the spring frost which occurred overnight from Sunday to Monday, seemed “limited”, assured several winegrowers Monday morning to AFP.
Posted at 9:35 a.m.
“For the moment, the losses are limited,” said Pierre Vincent, general manager of the Leflaive estate, in Puligny-Montrachet, an appellation which was particularly at risk because of its early growth.
“It went down to -5 in the lower part of the village,” he added, after spending another sleepless night to the rhythm of the alerts from the frost probes installed in the vines.
Since Saturday, the famous estate had placed candles and wood boilers to protect 15 hectares of its most exposed and most prestigious vines. “It costs about 5,000 euros ($6,900) per hectare, but if we hadn’t done it, we would have had losses of 50 to 80%, like last year,” assured the director.
In April 2021, a very sharp late frost cut the harvest by half on average.
But “nothing is won,” said Mr. Vincent. “I am very worried, because it is only the beginning of April. In 2016, the frost occurred on April 27 and we lost 80% of the harvest,” he recalled.
This year, fortunately for the winegrowers of the region, the Burgundy vine was less early than last year, the buds having already appeared on only a limited number of plots. Most of the vines were therefore less susceptible to frost.
In the Mâconnais, the temperatures did not finally “fall below -2 degrees maximum”, rejoiced Jérôme Chevalier, president of the Union of Mâcon wine producers. “This helped to limit the effects of the frost. Winegrowers are relieved after a lot of anguish,” he said.
“Some preferred to light, but I do not think it was necessary”, judged William Trouillet, winemaker in Pouilly-Fuissé (Saône-et-Loire). “For my part, I did not light the candles. »