With late frosts in Chablis, the Côte d’Or, and the Côte Chalonnaise in France threatening the regions’ famous vineyards, winemakers are taking extreme measures: fighting ice with fire. We’re not talking about Game of Thrones here, but actual controlled fires meant to keep water from freezing on the young buds.
Why the extreme measures? The frost is historically bad. Decanter spoke with Caroline Parent-Gros, of Domaine AF Gros in Pommard, who said that “[s]uch a frost is unseen since 1981 and it could have consequences not only on the yields of the Burgundy 2016 harvest but also on the yields of 2017.”
Aurélien Ibanez, a photographer based in Burgundy, posted a stunning set of photos to his Facebook page last week. You can head over to Facebook to see the whole set.
