Mixed blessings for wine lovers as Shropshire grape harvest hit by frost

The good news? What’s left is likely to produce a better-than-average bottle of vino.

Wroxeter Roman Vineyard in Shrewsbury was hit by a surprise frost that crept up on the county last week.

Owner of the family-run business, Martin Millington, said he did not take preventative measures as the weather forecast he read said it would not hit freezing.

He added: "The frost did catch us.

"The vines will come back, they will get another bud but basically we've lost about 40 per cent.

"When the frost hit the bud goes limp and instead of being nice and pink it goes brown.

"It'll take until the end of the month to come back.

"It takes roughly four to six weeks because the vine itself goes into shock and doesn't move for about four to six weeks.

"The difference this time is there are a few buds left which are still moving."

Mr Millington said the loss isn't a total disaster because he remains hopeful of a quality crop.

He said: "If the season does what it's supposed to do then, yes we've got less fruit, but because we've got less we'll have better quality.

"You either get quality or quantity – you don't get both.

"If you're unlucky this happens every few years.

"I didn't take measures and put burners out this time as the weather forecast I saw said it would be about 2°C (35.6F), but it was actually more like -2C (28.4F).

"Nature is what nature is.

"We got away with it all week and then got caught on the Wednesday night. It's just one of those things."

Elsewhere in the country it is reported that up to 75 per cent of some grape harvests were affected by the frost.

While vineyards across the UK suffered a loss of crops, one on south-facing slopes near Bridgnorth managed to escape the worst of the weather.

Halfpenny Green Wine Estate, near Bridgnorth, which is one of the largest vineyards outside of the south, said it had very minimal damage to its crop across the 30-acre site.

Nationwide, the worst of the frost damage came to vineyards in the south, where temperatures last week plunged.

Further north in the Midlands the frost was less intense, meaning the extend of damage depended on local issues such as terrain.

Halfpenny Green’s south-facing slopes and hardy vine varieties has meant very minimal damage, leaving most areas of the vineyard relatively unscathed.

Damaging frosts in both 2011 and 2012 have affected Halfpenny Green in previous years, but both years the damage actually led to an increase in grape quality.

Managing director Clive Vickers said: “When buds are damaged or destroyed during frost, this can actually lead to higher sugar levels in the grapes, as the vine can focus more energy on the remaining undamaged buds.

The frost in 2011 affected our Rondo vines heavily, but following a fantastic summer we actually harvested some of our best grapes ever from this variety.

“This led us to create our Rondo 2011, a 15 per cent still red wine, one of the highest alcohol reds ever produced in the UK.”

With warmer weather coming, and a dedicated team providing care to the vines, Mr Vickers said he is very optimistic for a “fantastic” growing season, coming away relatively unscathed compared to vineyards in south England.

The vineyard site is preparing for its free Food & Wine Festival on June 10. There will, of course, be wine plus food produce and live music.

Kerry Vale Vineyard, near Montgomery, were also affected by the sudden frost, but to a lesser extent.

Nadine Roach, manager, said: "It has affected us but because of where we are in the season it's not affected us too greatly.

"We're just hoping it won't happen again. We have buds left on the vines so I think we'll be ok.

"We've been listening to the forums and we knew the frost was coming but we didn't do anything. We've been quite fortunate really.

"We're just crossing our fingers we don't get any more frost."