He’s very bummed. A large part of his vines were damaged by night frost last week. Winegrower Jules Nijst from Domain de Wijngaardsberg speaks of havoc.
“Bad,” says Nijst in response to the question about how the vines are doing. “We have an 80 percent failure rate.” This applies not only to Domain de Wijngaardsberg in Ulestraten, but to the whole of South Limburg. All wine growers have had to contend with this night frost. “Dead is dead. You can’t do anything about that anymore. These tendrils are lost.”
Candles as protection against frost are very expensive
The location of its vines is certainly not bad, but the severity of the frost was heavier than predicted. . “They may be more sensitive to frost in other places, but there is little you can do against this frost. At least, you can work with hot air guns or paraffin candles. That could keep the damage somewhat limited, but that is not affordable. Those candles would have cost me 10,000 euros and then the question remains whether it works well.”
Another option to protect the vines is irrigation, but De Wijngaardsberg is located in a groundwater protection area. “So we are not allowed to dig holes.”
Effect on the wine
What is the effect on the wine? “That wine will not be available. Grapes do not grow on frozen shoots. There is still 20 percent left standing, but we still have to harvest it. No idea what the effect will be on that. We have yet to see that. This is very annoying, yes.”
Tags: Disastrous week wine grapes Limburg vines lost StalenAkker .nl
