Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘It’s not aliens- they’re just candles!’
A mysterious orange glow across a vineyard was likened by one onlooker to an “alien landing site”. Neighbours of the Barham Wine Estate in Canterbury were left awestruck - and baffled - by the eye-catching illumination.
But the firm’s owners have revealed the reason behind the atmospheric lighting - and the part it plays in helping them avoid losses of up to £5 million. Because the glow is emitted from hundreds of special candles designed to keep the frost off the vines. Charles Simpson, who runs the sprawling estate with his wife Ruth, told the Gazette lighting them is a tiresome task, but has to be done to avoid a catastrophe.
“We have to protect the vines against frost,” the 54-year-old said.
“Over the winter when the vines are dormant - like any plant - they can handle frost. “But due to climate change, we are getting earlier springs so the vines are coming back to life sooner than they would historically.
“The buds on the vine are exposed to temperatures below 0C.
“[With the candles] we are trying to warm the air around the plants to ensure they are not impacted by minus temperatures.”
The candles used by the
Simpsons are specially designed and made from vegetable wax.
They each sit in a metal canister, with Mr Simpson describing them as “big versions of room candles”.
More than a week ago, three frosts hit the area, so vineyard workers - including Mr and Mrs Simpson - took drastic measures to protect the crops. Neighbour Sharon Jarvis shared pictures of the scene on social media and said: “I looked out of my window over the vineyard and it looks like an alien landing site.
“It was an amazing sight as they flickered in my bedroom like a tealight.”
Others described the illumination as “beautiful” and “like an art piece”.
Mr Simpson is glad of the largely positive reaction to the candles, which he says are a necessity.
He adds that given the huge losses at stake, he and others have to stay awake on ‘frost watch’ between midnight and 8am.
“If we did not intervene and there was a serious frost, we could lose the entire crop,” he said.
“There would be a vineyard which continues to grow leaves, but no fruit.
“If we lost our entire crop, we would lose between £600,000 and £720,000 if we were just selling the fruit on the open market.
“But from that fruit, we would make about 250,000 bottles of wine, so we could lose about £5 million.”
Mr Simpson says the candles are expensive, costing £8 each and only lasting for 12 hours. And it is incredibly labourintensive to light thousands of them, with a team of about 10 people extinguishing them in the morning.
“The worst frost we had was in 2017, and we lost about 70% of our crop,” Mr Simpson said. “We were a much smaller business back then so it was not the same financial loss, as we only had one vineyard in production.
“It is a massive challenge for the British wine industry.” Mr Simpson says the chances of the candles causing a fire are “extremely low” because of the chilly temperatures and dewy grass.
If a candle falls over, the wax comes out and solidifies, but does not burn.
Mr and Mrs Simpson planted their first 25 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot
Noir at their Roman Road vineyard in 2014.
A further 50 hectares of the same three grape varieties were established on the southern slopes of the village in 2016 and 2017.
The couple branched out further in 2022 and planted another 22 acres of vines. In another of the vineyards at the wine estate, frost fans are used to blow cold air down the hill to stop it from accumulating or settling.
But Mr Simpson says in some places they have chosen to use candles to avoid neighbours being impacted by the noise of the fans.
“People say how beautiful and spectacular they are, and people stay up hoping to see them as it is quite a sight,” he explained. “Originally at that block, we used frost fans and we got some criticism as they made a noise. On a still evening, some of the houses opposite felt they were being kept up so we decided the more neighbourly thing to do was to use the candles.”