Adapting and Building Resilience to Frosts

Many wine regions are familiar with spring or autumn air frosts that can cause crop loss or damage. However, climate instability is resulting in unpredictable frost patterns, and warmer springs (which result in advanced phenology) are making buds and young shoots more vulnerable to spring frosts.

Techniques to help protect vines from frosts include:

• Active mechanical frost protection
• Thermal tree carpets
• Higher bud-zones
• Later budding varieties
• Cultural viticulture techniques such later pruning to delay bud burst, sacrificial canes, ground cover to reduce heat radiation and cover crop management to prevent cold air being trapped near vines

This is part of a series of resources on Climate Change Adaptation. The following buttons will take you to other resources.