Frost Damage

On Wednesday morning the low temperature out here at the Stowe Vineyard was 28 degrees F, frost on the windshield of my truck was thick and vineyard damage was inevitable. After walking through the vineyard over the past couple days though, not all was as bad as originally thought. The Riesling and Syrah are still to break bud, so they were relatively safe and made it through the frost seemingly unscathed. The prized and delicate Pinot Noir vines have only seen about 20-30% budbreak and they seemed to do fairly well, with only minor damage. The Chardonnay is the furthest ahead in terms of growth with about 90% budbreak. Oddly, it came away unharmed as well. By far the biggest hit from Wednesday’s frost was the Muscat Canelli. I am estimating the loss at around 80%. Fortunately there is still time for the secondary buds to kick in and alleviate some of this loss.