Late frosts

The unpredictable climate has proved extremely trying for our vineyard apprentices. In spite of the recommended biodynamic preventative dusting, the morning cold and negative temperatures at sunrise have wilted our buds. The damage wreaked by a -4°C dawn following 20°C daytime temperatures proved disastrous for our young Chardonnays. To save the buds that had been spared, we relied on a helicopter that flew at a low altitude at dawn to circulate the air above the vines and to try to warm up the atmosphere around the vine stocks. The results were convincing, but the fact remains that we will have to envisage other techniques in the future. We are already considering anti-frost wind machines and mobile heat cannons.