How Cold is Too Cold?

The temperature in the vineyard was 2°F on Saturday morning (12/24/22). Based on past experiences, we don’t expect this to be a problem for the vines. But we won’t really know until the vines bud out in April.

Our coldest temperature here at Hardscrabble was -13°F. That was in 1994 and caused significant crop loss. During the 1980s and 1990s we regularly experienced temperatures below -0°F. Unless the mercury fell colder than -5°F we didn’t worry about it. In the new millennium the winters became warmer and fears of cold damage waned. Then the Polar Vortex of 2014 hit us hard.

The damage in 2014 was different. The temperature only fell to 0°F, but the timing was the problem: early March. By then sap was flowing and the vines has lost some of their winter hardiness. This was especially true of young vines (less than 5 years old) which had been more quickly stimulated by that February’s warm spell. Ultimately, we lost over half of all our young vines from that freeze. We learned that the new normal of fluctuating winter temperatures is problematic.

The timing of this year’s freeze was fortuitous as the vines are in full dormancy. We are optimistic, but it could also prove to be a good test for an experiment. This fall we insulated alternate rows of young Merlot vines (Merlot is our most winter tender variety). We’ll find out this spring if a collar of compost around the tender graft union is enough protection.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: December 26, 2022