Frosts

[vc_row full_screen_section_height=”no”][vc_column][vc_column_text]We thought we had left behind the images of the fires lit between the night of 26 and 27 April 2016 to combat the cold in Burgundy.

Instead, this year the fires have returned, even in Italy, and not only in northern Italy but also in the center, in Tuscany and on the Apennines, where in these days and until the weekend the weather alert remains high for viticulture as for the entire fruit and vegetable sector.

In the North, the damage has already been done, but the situation could get worse.
At the moment, the situation appears to be compromised. production of the entire northern Italian arc from east to west.
Luca Ferraro, from the Bele Casel farm, talks about “Losses of approximately 150 quintals out of the 200 potential” in his vineyards in Monfumo.
“We gambled away 30 thousand euros,” Ferraro is no exception, given that the frost has burned the vast majority of the vineyards in the area, to a greater or lesser extent.

“Certainly the whole area was involved Prosecco, for which I expect an increase in the average price per litre for the 2017/2018 season” continues Barbara Cirotto, of the company of the same name located in the Asolo district.
“I saw that some producers in the Valdobbiadene area have equipped themselves with sprinklers to try to limit the damage caused by the ice”, as some winemakers have done in Trentino.

The damages related to all the areas involved so far are around tens of millions of euros.

A calculation that is not difficult to believe if, as happened in the Padua area, in the Euganean Hills area, at least 70% of the production on almost 6 thousand hectares was burned by the frost for a value of 60 million euros.
High percentages were also recorded on the Berici Hills, while in the eastern Verona area the most affected areas were the lower central Lessinian valleys such as the Marcellise, Mezzane and Illasi valleys.
In Valle d'Aosta the first estimates speak of 50% and not even in Friuli the vines were spared. The outlook does not change even to the west: “The situation here in Piemonte it's very complex because we're not talking about a frost but about frosts for now spread over three consecutive nights where the first two were, obviously, the most serious” testifies Gianluca Morino, of Cascina Garitina, in Nizza Monferrato.

“The first night of April 19th – Morino testifies – the phenomenon was complex because the frosts did not only extend to the low areas but in too many cases they exploited currents coming from the north-east to climb the slopes of hills even at quite high altitudes such as 300 m above sea level. The second and third nights instead were the classic stationary frosts at medium-low altitudes and therefore they hit those areas that had historical memory and those areas where vines were planted in a somewhat reckless manner”.
“In the wake of global warming, which has yet to be verified, the vine has moved away from its classic areas – explains Morrino – stealing land from other crops, even here in Piedmont, even in the most “famous” areas. In my area, Nice, almost all the companies have suffered damage: some only a few hectares, some 20% and others 40 or 50% especially on varieties such as Pinot Noir or Chardonnay or Moscato which usually love cooler, more humid areas and often oriented to the east or north. However, Barbera was hit in some areas especially the first night also because it is a variety very sensitive to the cold and this year it had very developed and therefore tender vegetation”.

The proposal to decree the state of calamity which would certainly help the most affected companies: “The frost this night [April 21, ed.], combined with that of the previous nights, has caused serious damage to crops in Piedmont.
Given the exceptional nature of the phenomenon, we ask for the government's intervention" These are the joint words of Sergio Chiamparino and Giorgio Ferrero, respectively President and Councilor for Agriculture in Piedmont.

In the meantime, Cia-Agricoltori Italiani has started monitoring in the areas most affected by the frost to make a realistic estimate of the damage.

France is not doing any better and if in Chablis the fires have started burning again (which, it is said and passant, seem to have attracted the attention of foreign wine magazines that remain mostly silent on the Italian front), in other areas of France they have resorted to helicopters, which shoot hot air towards the ground, thus removing the freezing air that stagnates below, and which costs around 200 euros per hectare.

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