The world of wine has been all abuzz for the past week, following the worst spring frosts to hit the Burgundy and Loire Valley regions of France since 1982.
Yes, gentle reader, some of the finest vineyards in the world were caught in the icy grip of Old Man Winter, their tender young buds and shoots unprepared for the hoarfrost covering the vines so late in the year.
Mother Nature has always been a capricious and fickle mistress, with the continental climate of the Burgundy region in particular being known for its cold winters and hot summers.
Seasoned and battle-wearied vintners try to mitigate the effects of spring frosts with a variety of methods, the simplest of which is planting the vines on a hill, so the cold air from a frost naturally drains towards the bottom. Planting the more delicate (or more expensive) varietals near the top of the hills can at least minimize losses, if not avoid them completely.
A more common method is to light burning barrels every few meters between the rows, painstakingly tending them all night to keep the vines just warm enough to avoid freezing, but not so hot that the vines are scorched. Industrial fans are often employed to keep the air moving to ensure all the vines are evenly heated.
For the most expensive Premier Cru designations, it is not unheard of to have helicopters hover above the vineyard all night, blowing warmer air down onto the vines to avoid freezing.
Minor frosts are not uncommon in Burgundy, but are generally restricted to a handful of low-lying vineyards, which minimizes damage to just a few plots per vineyard.
However, this past April 27, nearly the entirety of the Burgundy region was blanketed with a hard freeze, hitting vineyards that had not seen frost for decades.
Fortunately, the winemakers did have sufficient advance notice to prepare, and spent a few frantic nights artificially warming the vineyards with giant candles and burn barrels, tweaking and adjusting with every minute change of the wind.
Despite the valiant efforts of the vintners, the 2016 harvest is expected to be significantly reduced, so you may see a wee bit less of your favourite French wines on the shelves of your friendly neighbourhood booze merchant.
Before you run to the store to stock up, remember that the grapes harvested in 2016 still need to be fermented into wine, then aged in oak for a few years before bottling, so the effects of this nasty frost will not be fully felt until 2018 or 2019.
As consumers, we are blessed with a wealth of choices for our wines, making it easy to substitute a Californian Pinot Noir for an equivalent wine from Burgundy.
However, a small family-owned estate winery will have trouble surviving a frost that slashes their summer harvest in half, so an uncommon weather event like this is a real personal tragedy for those winemakers who bring us the hooch we love so much.
This may be a contributing factor to the ongoing consolidation in the wine industry, with the smaller estate wineries being bought up by multinational conglomerates.
I suppose that a megawinery with operations in multiple countries is insulated from the risk of weather issues in a single region, but the increasing industrialization of the winemaking process means we lose the personal touch of a local winemaker, and even some of the romance associated with the art of turning grape juice into giggle juice with the magic of fermentation.
Your humble narrator has long made an annual pilgrimage to the Okanagan Valley of BC, the western jewel of the Canadian wine industry, and each year, there are a few more family-owned estate wineries that are acquired by a conglomerate like Vincor or Constellation Brands.
At this rate, I expect to see all Canadian vineyards owned by a few giant consortiums in my lifetime, with the attendant oligopolistic behaviours that we see from the likes of big phone companies or airlines, none of which bode well for consumer satisfaction.
While we can’t help every small vineyard owner in the world, we can help the winemakers of Burgundy get through this difficult period by showing their wares some love. Take home a bottle of wine from Burgundy and see for yourself!
