The calls come through the night — temperatures dropping, updates every 15 minutes from across the vineyard.
Frost protection is already in motion.
Infra-red Frolight tubes glowing. Rows of bougies set out and lit by hand.
Because even with technology, we don’t take chances.
Some nights mean placing 400 candles per hectare. Lighting them takes time, step count gets higher (34km/day average). Watching them takes longer. And yes — if we relied on them alone, we could burn £40,000 in a single night.
But missing a frost night isn’t an option.
We only ever use the grapes we grow ourselves — so every degree matters.
For now, we watch. We wait.
And when the temperature finally lifts… we exhale.
We've had eight instances so far including five in the week of 21st April. The worst throughout the country was the night of 25th / 26th April when it dropped to - 4.3c at Holtwood. Unfortunately, we were dealing with Enborne at the time so didn't know that the frost fan had broken down for two hours. The Chardonnay was badly hit as a result and we have maybe lost 15 - 20% at Holtwood. We have fared better than most though and there have been reports of 50% losses in a number of vineyards.
France has been badly hit in Burgundy, Chablis (again) and Champagne with reports of between 38% - 45% damage in Champagne: nowhere escaped. To quote one producer: "Climate change, serious weather event, call it as you may but the abnormal is fast becoming the normal. God knows how much worse it will get."
ForALLMomentsThatMatter #FrostFighting #AllAngelsVineyard
