How does cold affect the vineyards?

Andreu Piñol, wine grower

We are at the Bergadanes vineyard, in the Alt Penedès area. It is a vineyard where we have varieties of Macabeo, Chardonnay, and Merlot mainly, and Xarel·lo in the part towards the back.

The frosts in spring affect the buds and reduce the yield of the vineyard.

Either because of the snow falls this winter, or because of the cold, which has been irregular this year with cold and warm days, the plant can’t seem to get started. If the temperature had dropped two more degrees, besides killing all the buds, it would have damaged the plant. In this case we don’t see damage in the interior of the plant.

Amino acids such as Terramin®, an organic farming certified product, promote rapid recovery of crops after stress conditions.

This is a plot of organic Chardonnay, where we have to apply another type of products than those we are using in conventional agriculture. Today we a applying a treatment of liquid fertilizer injection to correct crop deficiencies and obtain a good harvest.

It’s a chore, a job, a hobby, which I have done since I was a child, from manually grafting the grapevines in the field, to doing all the chores, I have always liked it. I like to be here in the field all day long. It’s priceless for us, this is our life, that’s what it is.