The frost damage reported by winegrowers in Côte d'Or and Alsace is out of all proportion to that reported by their neighbours in Jura or Savoie.

By Marion Bazireau On April 24, 2024

When I see what's happening around the Côte d'Or, I tell myself that we're doing well," sums up Benoît Bazerolle, wine advisor at Apex, on April 24.

The succession of frosts seems to have caused only partial and localized damage in the department. "Some weather stations recorded -1.6°C or even -2°C, but overall temperatures did not dip too low below zero," explains the advisor. The winegrowers were also fortunate that the cloud cover replenished at the end of the nights, and that the wind was present on the coldest mornings.

Damage could persist in some high-altitude plots and valleys of the Hautes Côtes de Nuits. "There are also some symptoms of frost in Auxey-Duresses, Monthelie and Saint-Aubin, but if it stops there, we won't have the right to complain, our situation is out of all proportion to those we experienced in 2016 and 2021 and far from being as serious as the one some of our neighbours are experiencing today," says Benoît Bazerolle.

The winemakers are quite zen

The damage seems to be much more significant in the vineyards of Jura, Savoie and Bugey. Like the Côte d'Or, Alsace has a priori come out of the frost episode rather well. "Winegrowers are quite zen," says Marie-Noëlle Lauer, from the Bas-Rhin Chamber of Agriculture. Cold weather is still forecast tonight but the hardest part seems to be over."

However, while going around the plots, the councillor spotted plots that were badly damaged, sometimes with 100% of the vines affected, such as in the commune of Balbronn, which is regularly subject to the return of cold weather from the Vosges, or in the Turckheim valley, on the approach to Colmar. "It's not pretty to see and there will surely be some loss, but when you do 100 meters the situation improves," says Marie-Noëlle Lauer, who is waiting to see in the next few days how the counter-buds will start again.

Source:Vitisphere