South America counts cost of frost

(TDB) - Producers on both sides of the Andes are reporting significant damage to their earliest flowering varieties as a result of the severe frosts which hit many regions last month.

Among the Chilean vineyards belonging to Santa Rita Estates, which span Maipo, Colchagua and Casablanca, vineyards in the latter region experienced the most severe damage from the sudden mid-September cold spell, the country’s worst frost in 84 years.

“Leyda in the flat areas was especially damaged,” reported Sebastian Labbé, the group’s head winemaker for its Carmen brand, although he noted that irrigation sprinklers helped to create a protective “igloo” around many of the vines. Meanwhile in Maipo the producer managed to limit damage by using helicopters to circulate air.

Although the full scale of the damage will not become clear until later in the growing season, Labbé estimated that the country as a whole was likely to see total volumes fall by “15-18%” as a result of the frost.

“The main problems were for Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – the early flowering ones,” he reported. “Sauvignon Blanc flowers a little later so it was ok.”

Over in Argentina’s viticultural heartland of Mendoza, Doña Paula head winemaker David Bonomi suggested that “about 50%” of the producer’s Chardonnay had been affected. However