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After the warm and sunny spring, the vines in Germany have sprouted about two weeks earlier than the long-term average. In the Rheingau, the German Wine Institute (DWI) even reports that this is the second earliest budding since weather records began. This extends the time span in which the young shoots have to survive the danger of frosty nights. They are not uncommon in April. The danger of late frost is usually only banished after the "ice saints" on 15 May. Temperatures just below zero degrees Celsius are sufficient to damage the young vine greenery. The last time this happened was on 20 April 2017, when very severe frost damage after a similarly early budding in all growing areas led to nationwide harvest losses of 17 percent compared to the ten-year average.

In Saxony's Schloss Wackerbarth winery, frost-protection candles and controlled fires were lit in endangered vineyards as early as the night of 14 April, after meteorologists had predicted that the temperature would drop to minus two degrees. This had allowed the air to heat up to over zero degrees.

To protect the vines from frost, smaller, permanently installed wind turbines are used in the vineyards in addition to frost protection candles. They mix the cold air masses on the ground with the warmer air layers above. This is also attempted with helicopters that fly flat over the vineyards. As indirect frost protection, the winegrowers keep the greenery in the vineyards short, so that the heat radiation of the soil is not hindered by tall plants.

(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)

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