Late frosts devastate French vineyards
French winemakers have warned that widespread spring frosts look to have damaged parts of the 2021 vintage in its infancy. Social media channels were filled with images of candles burning in vineyards in April, as winemakers in France and other parts of Europe sought to prevent sub-zero temperatures damaging young buds.
Yet there were initial reports of serious frost damage in many French regions, from Bordeaux and Burgundy to Languedoc, Rhône and the Loire.
France’s government pledged financial support from its ‘agricultural disaster’ fund to help wineries, which have already felt the economic impact of Covid-19 and US tariffs in recent months.
Producers were still trying to assess damage as Decanter went to press, but Bordeaux’s wine council, the CIVB, said: ‘It’s already certain that the spring frost will severely impact volume in the 2021 harvest.’
The picture naturally varied between producers and vineyard sites. Médoc estates near to the Gironde estuary appeared to have suffered less overall, as a map from the local agriculture chamber showed.
In Barsac, Château Climens posted a stark note on Instagram: ‘Our hopes went up in smoke, despite the fires lit by the team two nights in a row. The frost, as in 2017, has only spared a few buds.’
In Burgundy, Thiébault Huber, president of the regional wine-growers union CAVB said: ‘All Bourgogne, from Chablis to Mâcon, has been affected [to some extent].’
He added: ‘We think that the Chardonnays, which are further ahead [in the growing cycle], will have been affected much more than the Pinot Noirs, which had not yet completed their bud break.’
Cécile Mathiaud, of Burgundy’s wine council BIVB, said it was too early to make predictions about the 2021 harvest.
There were mounting concerns across Languedoc. Regional wine council CIVL said 60%-90% of the potential 2021 harvest could have been lost in IGP vineyards in the Hérault area, with several AP areas also hit badly.
‘We’ve been getting up at 2am,’ said Samuel Guibert, co-owner and head winemaker at
Below: anti-frost wind machine, Pomerol
Mas de Daumas Gassac near Aniane, offering an insight into the day-to-day reality of battling the elements.
Even with fires and other protective measures, Daumas Gassac’s 2021 white wine harvest could be down by at least 30%, Guibert said. Reds could be down 10%-20%, but it was too early to know for sure.
Although Guibert has seen yields impacted by frost in 2017, mildew in 2018 and a heatwave in 2019, he said conditions this year were rare. ‘I’ve never seen trees frozen in April.’
He said Daumas Gassac might have to apply small price increases to the winery’s 2021 white wine, ‘to make sure the work we are doing is paid for’.
There have also been frost concerns in other European wine regions. In Piedmont, northwest Italy, Giovanni Minetti, CEO of Tenuta Carretta, said black frost affected Roero and the Langhe in early April. For Nebbiolo, he said the situation ‘is not the same everywhere – some plants show damage that affected some buds while leaving the others intact’. He added it would take several weeks to know the full story, however.
‘At the moment it seems that the latebudding varieties (such as Arneis and Barbera) have not suffered any damage.’
All winemakers cautioned that frost remained a danger well into May. ‘We are not out of the woods yet,’ said Victor Urrutia, CEO of CVNE in Rioja, who nevertheless reported the firm’s own extensive vineyard holdings had escaped relatively lightly so far.