News from the vineyard

By Eléonore Lafarge
May 5, 2021

A year worse than 2016

In Burgundy, the contrast between 2020 and 2021 in the vineyard is clear. Due to the frost at the beginning of April, the vineyards look very different this year. Even though May is here, the vineyards look as if winter just ended. Not many leaves are to be seen, compared to the previous years.

In the pictures below, we can see the Clos du Château des Ducs in Volnay on April 30th, 2020 and on May 1st, 2021.

Clos du Château des Ducs
April 30, 2020

Clos du Château des Ducs
May 1, 2021

The winemakers are still in their vineyards trying to estimate the percentage of loss. Seeing even one live bud is a sign of hope in this difficult year. In the picture below, Ludivine Griveau from Domaine des Hospices de Beaune is happy to see some healthy buds while on a tour of her vineyards in Pouilly-Fuissée.

The extent of the damage is not yet completely known. As the Chardonnay vineyards bud earlier than the Pinot Noir ones and correspondingly had more vulnerable buds, the Chardonnays seem to have been more affected by the frost. Indeed, in Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chablis, not a lot of buds survived.

François Labet, the president of the BIVB, Bureau Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bourgogne, estimates that at least 50% of buds were lost. As the vines keep growing, the winemakers will have a better idea of the damage. What makes 2021 worse than 2016 is that there were three nights of frost this year. Every winemaker in Burgundy was trying to purchase candles to warm up the vineyards but there were not enough for the third night, when the greatest damage occured.

Burgundy is not the only region that suffered from this historic frost; most of France’s vineyards did, as well as other agricultural areas, including apple and pear tree plantings.