From Burgundy to Montalcino, the fires of winemakers to defend the vine from the grip of frost

<B>Punctual, like every year, just a little bit in advance, the grip of frost, after the first warm spring weather, has returned to bite Europe. Endangering many crops, starting with the vine, which is now everywhere at the beginning of the vegetative phase, with the first buds, symbol of rebirth after the winter rest, appearing between the rows. A particularly fragile moment for the plant, which needs to be protected. They know it well in Burgundy where, practically every year, to fight the night frosts, with temperatures dropping dangerously and precipitously below, the vigneron takes care, lighting thousands of small fires between the precious rows of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. That gives, even in a dramatic moment, at least from an agronomic point of view, one of the most beautiful spectacles one can enjoy in the vineyard,</B> as happened, for example, at Domaine Belleville, the Gevrey-Chambertin label born at the beginning of the 2000s. But the experience of French winemakers has now become an example followed by many in Italy as well, where tonight in many cases temperatures have dropped below zero.

Among the territories in alarm, the two most prestigious ones of Italian wine, <B>the Langhe of Barolo and the rows of Sangiovese of Brunello di Montalcino. Where, last night, producers have used the smoke of burnt hay, in order to create a curtain capable of raising the temperature of vineyards, and in this way save the first buds, which are still to blossom.</B> To suffer damages, however, were also the rows of many other territories of Tuscany while in Northern Italy, fortunately, budding is still behind, and there was no need, for now, to resort to fires, as it happened in the past years, for example in Abbazia di Novacella, in Trentino Alto Adige, or among the vineyards of Venica & Venica, a griffe of Collio spared, this time, by last night's frost.

In the gallery, some of the most evocative images collected from Burgundy and Montalcino, wishing the whole world of wine to overcome unharmed the first hard test, among the rows, of this 2021.