Loire 2016: The Frost
It is only natural that in such a large wine region, the vignerons up and down the Loire Valley all had slightly different experiences of the frost. Some reported worryingly low temperatures as early as April 17th. As the new leaves sprang forth, however, at this time many found the persistently damp weather, and its potential to translate into an immediate attack of mildew on the tender new growth, to be a more pressing concern. Of course, an attentive vigneron can at least spray against fungal diseases, and it was instead the frost in the last week of the month that really brought home the occasionally stark cruelty of La Dame Nature.
Sub-zero temperatures down as far as -2ºC were recorded in various parts, on several different days, but for many it was on the morning of April 27th that the worst damage was done. It is worth remembering – if these temperatures don’t sound too bad – that the temperature probes at weather stations tend to be situated some distance off the ground, perhaps 1.5 metres (much higher than the vines are trained), and they are not generally located in windswept vineyards. Thus, the temperature around the developing buds – which is what really matters – may be much lower than the weather stations suggest. Indeed, individual vignerons reported temperatures as low as -6ºC in parts, although to be frank the -2ºC officially recorded was bad enough.
At the time I was not in the Loire Valley but in London, judging the Loire category at the Decanter World Wine Awards with Jim Budd and other Loire-interested colleagues. It was very depressing to see, throughout the day, reports and images of the frost damage ping onto my smart-phone. In the first few hours after the frost it is impossible for a vigneron to see the exact extent of the damage, in general it is only as the frosted leaves wilt and turn to a crisp brown state of death that estimates are made, and thus many prefer to wait for the flowering (or even the harvest itself) before revealing frost-damage figures. Nevertheless even at this early stage it was apparent that some regions had been devastated, and as I have already hinted there was something of a frost lottery, as other regions escaped with relatively little damage.
