Two cold nights with temperatures down to -5 degrees have had devastating consequences for French farmers.
On Friday, the French government announced that it would deploy emergency aid to the affected farmers, whose crops are largely at risk of being lost.
- Today we are facing an exceptionally difficult situation that affects a large number of areas.
Not only vineyards, but also agricultural crops such as beets and rapeseed, says Julien Denormandie to France Info.
Large heat wrap behind the disaster scenario
The catastrophic situation is due to the large change in weather that has taken place in large parts of France.
When the cold hit, it came after a week of unusually hot weather, which caused many shots to strike.
If the buds freeze, large parts or even entire harvests can be lost.
- It is too early to estimate the size of the damage.
Unfortunately, new periods of frost are expected in the next few days, which may exacerbate the already very difficult situation we are facing, says Julien Denormandie.
To save the season's harvest, winegrowers with various aids have tried to prevent the vines from freezing.
In the Chablis wine region of France, growers have lit thousands of candles in the fields to keep warm.
Others have burned huge piles of hay, and in some places water sprinklers have been used, which create an ice coating on the vines like an igloo that prevents the buds from freezing.
Bordeaux: Will seriously affect the harvest
Despite the hard work, the damage will be felt in many places.
- We believe that Chardonnays, which are further ahead in the cycle, will have been affected much more than Pinot noirs, which had not yet completed its bud, says Thiébault Huber, president of the Burgundy Union wine growers, CAVB to the wine guide Decanter.
Bordeaux's regional wine council, CIVB, which represents almost 10,000 wine producers, has said that the damage was still being evaluated but that it is already clear that this spring frost will seriously affect the volume of the 2021 harvest.
The last time the French wine growers encountered a similar situation was in 2017. At that time, the south-western parts in particular were hit by a severe cold snap that led to the worst harvest since World War II.
In Bordeaux, the harvest decreased by 40 percent.
France is considered one of the world's most important wine countries with famous grape varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot noir in Champagne and Burgundy, and Merlot and Sauvignon blanc in Bordeaux.