Vineyard fires burn bright in freezing cold. In Italy, from South Tyrol to Tuscany

The frost over Europe, during a cold spring, continues to keep the winegrowers of the Old Continent in alarm, although the situation is not as serious as in 2017, when the spring frosts fell on the vineyards of France, Italy, Spain and beyond, like a real scourge. And everywhere, to counteract the temperatures and prevent them from falling too much, at a time when the vine is in the middle of its vegetative phase, fires are lit in the vineyards, with charming images. And if in the last few days, in mid-April, the protagonists had been those from Germany, in particular from Saxony, and France (hit right now by a new wave of frost, which could have caused the loss of 10% of the Bordeaux harvest, with an even worse situation in Charente, after the damage of recent weeks in Champagne and Loire), the fires were also lit in Italy. And not only in the highest vineyards of South Tyrol (after the snow that in recent days has covered the rows in Trentino), as shown, among other things, by the images spread via social cellars as the history of the Abbey of Novacella. The vineyards of Tuscany, and in particular those of the Tenuta di Trinoro, in the heart of the Val d’Orcia, were lit up and warmed up with fire, as the winemaker of one of the most awarded by international critics Italian wineries told to WineNews. “We waited until the temperature reached 1 degree Celsius and was falling - says Pizzolato - it was a fight against time because the temperature kept falling but we managed not to go below 0. So 10 hectares of vineyards were saved at 450 meters above sea level, the lowest of the company, while the higher vineyards did not suffer damage”. Stories and images that tell, albeit beautifully and evocatively, how much effort and attention there is in the work of those who, every day, cultivate the vineyard and look up to the sky, to produce great wines.