We set the alarm for 5am this morning and spent a couple of hours driving around the vineyards of Vouvray and Montlouis sur Loire. In the past 10 years, both appellations have suffered from frost damage with Montlouis coming off the worst. Some growers have had 5 frosts in the past 7 years and the first decent harvest in terms of quantity was 2018. One year of excellent wine in decent quantity is not sufficient to keep some of these small growers afloat despite making wines of the highest quality.
As we drove around the vineyards in the darkness there was an eery silence. Hundreds of bougies (massive candles) flickering between the vines in an attempt to raise the air temperature. The smell of kerosene lingering in the air. It’s a rather beautiful sight but makes the heart sink at the same time. You realise how helpless we are in the face of nature.
Other vineyards had switched on the ‘tow and blow’ aeoliennes. These massive fans push the warmer air that rises up into the night sky, back down towards the ground.
And as daylight appeared, thousands of bales of straw were lit to provide a smoky layer between the vines and the sunlight, just waiting to frazzle any tender shoots covered with a layer of frost.
It was a very sobering couple of hours. We stopped from time to time to give a few words of encouragement to the growers, united in their efforts to save this year’s crop.
