Hey Jacque Frost, it's Springtime now. . .

It was a post from Véronique Drouhin on Instagram that caught my eye - rows of vines lit by candles - and for a moment it stopped me, because we’ve seen it before, and we know what it means. Burgundy had entered frost season again.

From there, the picture filled in quickly, not through formal reporting at first, but through the growers themselves: more posts, more vineyards lit through the night, then a post from Domaine Lamy showing the same scene, a darkened vineyard alit with hundreds of smudge pots, and, just as telling, cherry orchards doing the same in nearby areas, smudge pots burning in rows to protect what has already begun. The pictures are a reminder that wine is an agricultural product, that grapes are farmed by people with deep knowledge of their terroir and their vines, and a commitment to getting that fruit to the bottle. It is easy, in wine, to think in terms of regions and appellations, but in moments like this it’s simply agriculture - everyone working against the same drop in temperature before morning.

Across reporting from JancisRobinson.com and others, the past several nights - March 26 through March 29 - have brought below-freezing temperatures into Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire, Alsace, and Savoie.  Temperature is some areas dropped down to -6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Frost in spring is not new, but timing matters. After a warm start to the season, the vines are moving, in many cases at or just past budbreak, and once that happens, there is no buffer left. Budbreak has been coming earlier in many regions, in Burgundy and more broadly, and that shift extends the window where young growth is exposed to spring frost. The buds and shoots have a high-water content and freeze - that’s what makes them so vulnerable. A light frost is no longer light; it becomes consequential and very detrimental.

This is the part of the growing season that is least forgiving: the vine has committed, but the weather has not. There is no negotiation in that gap, only response, and the response is what you see in those images - candles burning through the night, wind machines turning, sprinklers running - water sprinklers are used to coat the buds in ice, and as the water freezes, latent heat is released, which helps protect the plant. Candles and smudge pots keep the surrounding air warmer, and wind machines help mix that warmer air down to the vines, all of it aimed at holding temperatures just high enough to get through until sunrise. It is expensive, labor-intensive, and necessary. Perhaps the tool of the future, Domaine Faiveley has been testing Frolight LED tubes in their Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet vineyard - a more targeted approach that uses radiant heat to protect individual buds. It is a different model from candles and smudge pots, which come with both emissions and significant labor demands.

If it feels familiar, it should. The 2021 European spring frost remains a clear reference point, one of several recent vintages shaped by spring cold - notably 2016 and 2017, both marked by significant frost across much of France - and 2021 in particular was defined by nights like these, when early growth met sudden cold and yields were affected long before harvest. What we are seeing now follows that same pattern - the same tension between early development and exposure to risk.

It is too early to say what 2026 will be, and anyone working in these vineyards would say the same, but the signs are there: early growth, cold nights, and similar measures being taken across regions to protect what can still be protected. The images draw attention and concern for all agriculture impacted by a warmer finish to winter and a cold snap at a vulnerable moment. The real story plays out more intently, hour by hour through the night, as growers work to preserve a season that is already underway. In the meantime, as a gesture of support, pour a glass of Volnay or Meursault, and hope that Jacque Frost hands the baton off to Spring.