The “shoots are currently very fragile and break easily,” said viticulture consultant Martin Palz from the Styrian Chamber of Agriculture on Tuesday. The fresh snow might cause damage at higher altitudes. For winemaker Gustav Strauss from Gamlitz (Leibnitz district) the snow is “not that bad”, but the frost is more of a problem for him. It is not yet possible to seriously quantify the failures, says Palz.
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Zweigelt and Muscat are particularly affected
“In Gamlitz the damage is still relatively low. It will perhaps be 5 to 10 percent,” said Strauss, who cultivates around 40 hectares of vineyards there with his brother. On Monday morning he measured a low of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius. Varieties such as Zweigelt and Muskateller are particularly affected. To combat the frost, he smoked bales of hay and straw twice over the weekend. This prevents the heat of the morning sunlight from destroying the vines. “That definitely helped a few percent. We got away with a black eye,” summed up the South Styrian.
His vines would withstand the snow from the previous night, but Strauss still had to move out due to the snow: “I cleared a community road in the morning and moved three fallen trees with the tractor.”
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Picture gallery: Heavy snowfall in Styria: 3,400 households without electricity
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“Frost damage is sometimes devastating”
Wine-growing consultant Palz reported that the frost damage was “partially devastating” and now it’s all regarding the next few days. “At the moment the snow is actually protecting us from the frost,” says Palz. However, if the snow remains overnight, the subsequent heat of melting might cause the grape leaves to burn out, as happened in 2016. At higher altitudes of around 400 meters, for example in Eichberg in Eastern Styria, the snow load itself might affect the vines.
Due to the record temperatures at the beginning of April, the wine’s development had progressed further and the shoots were already around ten to 15 centimeters longer than usual, explained Palz: “That’s actually the basic problem. We’re a good two weeks ahead.” The weather situation will improve, but the damage will only be able to be quantified towards the end of the week.
