This April  Corbieres Frosts  has been hit us farmers hard this year. Wednesday night Thursday morning saw -2C on the plains, -4C in the foot hills, -8c up here in the Hautes Corbieres.  Most farmers have been affected in some ways by this latest cold spell. Our tomates, cucumbers, and courgettes have been devastated, the perfumed geranium mother plants savaged, the oregano italiano small plants killed, not to mention the basils, aloes and other sensitive plants. In general we are a month behind, and in some cases will not catch up at all this year. Combined with the on going COVID rules it is going to make for an ‘interesting’ Spring, again. But with 70 odd varieties while some have suffered others have shrugged it off and continue to thrive.

Same for our marketing gardener friends, the peppers and aubergines are dead but the root vegetables are fine, for a tree growing colleague he has seen his almond saplings shrivel, certain young fruit bushes and trees lose their buds, while the trees will be fine the changes of fruit is virtually zero. Other fruit growers on the other hand report of a catastrophic loss of buds and blossom.

Without a doubt the worse hit are the wine makers. After a hectic late Winter of pruning the vines were starting to bud. The first buds contain the unformed seeds that produce the grapes. Those killed by the frosts will grow as usual but they will not yield any grapes this year. Reports vary from area to area, parcel to parcel as the temperature, humidity level, age of the vines, grape variety, soil type, length and decree of frost, the re heating speed and wind factor all have a role to play. Some are telling of 100% fertility losses, others 40-60% others have survived intact.

Despite the warnings from the métrologistes Corbieres winemakers have very little experience, and equipment to deal with early Spring frosts of this intensity. Unlike their more Northern colleagues, who’s vines bud later anyway, they do not have the stock of heating candles, of the chemical treatments that can offer some protection. On Wednesday evening and through the night producers set bonfires, burnt ditches, sprayed what products they had, and some organic producers sprayed an oregano thyme mixture with, what most will sadly admit, little effect.

Across the entire Languedoc, apart from the coastal regions the 2021 vendage will be badly hit. On top of COVID this will hit some winemakers hard. Overall the impact of COVID has been mixed, the loss of bar and restaurant business had been tough for many, but others who sell to marketeers and distribution networks that target home consumption, which has gone up, while online wine purchases have exploded in countries that allow them. A friend of mine nearly emptied her Cave in a one hour interview with the Naked Wines buyers club in the UK.

2021 is gearing up to being a challenging year for the Corbieres.

As well as the April Corbieres frosts. The national travel ban lay be lifted as the impact of the vaccine programmes makes itself felt, so the tourist industry may positive signs, as for the tourist service industries, the bars, restos, night clubs, only time will tell if they will be allowed to reopen, and under what conditions. Whether the borders will reopen, and under what travel conditions also remains to be seen, will vaccine passports become a reality. As a kid that use to travel to visit my parents in Botswana, the Seychelles and Saudi Arabia I remember the vaccine certificates we use to have to present at the Customs of the host countries, we we see the same again for COVID?

The winemakers will receive some Government compensation for their losses, how that is calculated, on last year’s revenue, on a pre COVID revenue, or some other formula will no doubt also be hotly contested.

I think it is inevitable that some winemakers will quit the profession, or reduce the amount of land under production, the slow decline of the Corberes wine industry has been going on since the late 19^th century. Bumps like this one will push those on the edge over, the suicide rate amongst French farmers is terrifyingly high. It could also convince others to spread their risk, by diversification, or finding other means of creating revenue. Though the often promoted side line of agri tourism, concerting unused farm building into holiday homes, an unused land into camping, does not look so promising in the age of COVID. The property market for remote rural locations on the other hand, after a dormant 4 years has started to pick up as urban dwellers have lost their love of the centre town apartment.

Meanwhile despite the April Corbieres frosts life goes on, plants have to be replanted, vines treated, last years produce transformed into wine.