Frost hits English Vineyards

We’ve already heard how frost has affected vineyards in Champagne. Now the frost has hit some vineyards in England, with Albury stating the frost has caused damage to 80% of buds.

When frost is forecast, it’s all hands on deck with the lighting of  ‘bougies’ (French for ‘candle’) and burners throughout the vineyards. These ‘bougies’ are large white metal cans full of wax that can burn for up to 10 hours. These are put out amongst the vines to try and keep the temperature up and stop the frost damaging the buds.

As a general rule, the buds will cope with temperatures as low as -1C, but damage starts to happen after that and you can expect 20% ‘kill’ at -2C and 90% at -3C.

Source & Photo credit: Albury Vineyards