Choppers out in force to protect grapes

SCOTT HAMMOND/The Marlborough Express

FROST FLIERS: Helicopters at Omaka spent a night of battling frost that threatened some of Marlborough's grape crop.

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It was a long and frosty night for Marlborough growers as they were put on alert before midnight and were fighting off their first decent frost of spring this morning.

Cold southerlies brought sub zero temperatures and saw helicopters, frost pots, wind machines and irrigators battling the temperatures, in what appears at this stage to be a successful effort to save the early growth of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes.

Villa Maria viticulturist Mike Croad said it was "a pretty big night for the boys" and a couple of helicopters were working on some blocks just before midnight. "It was more than just a dawn dip."

In the Waihopai Valley water protection came on at about 1.30am, which was pretty early and choppers were working around Ben Morven from 2.30am.

But frost predictions had worked well and growers had full warning, he said. "The forecast is for one again tonight, but not as bad."

And Wither Hills viticultural operations manager Geoff Matthews said a decent ground frost saw all the operation's frost fighting equipment used. There were helicopters up, wind machines and irrigation systems protecting the crop.

"I think it all went according to plan, we had a bit of luck and it looks fine."

The coldest spot he was aware of was on the corner of Bells and Ben Morven Rds, where it dropped to minus 2.4 degrees.

The alarms were set off at about 11.30pm when it reached two degrees, and the first of the helicopters was in the air at 1.30am.

Mr Matthews said that only chardonnay was in leaf and pinot noir was just starting to push its first and second leaf, and were the vulnerable crops.

From this weekend the sauvignon blanc would be pushing leaves out as well, he said. "It's expected to get cold again tonight but probably not anywhere near as cold as this morning, and it will probably be okay for four or five days."

The MetService is predicting early frosts inland tomorrow, but warmer northwesterly and westerly weather patterns from the weekend.

Meanwhile, Rapaura Kiwi Cherries' Terry Sowman said he "could be on the verge of a 10 percent loss, but we won't know for a while yet".

He recorded a minus 1.8 degree frost overnight, but it needed to drop to about minus 2.2 degrees before cherries started to see any significant damage.

"At this stage the flowering is good, although some varieties did get hit by frost two weeks ago when it was minus 2.2. There has been some damage in a couple of varieties, you can see the burn inside the bud."

- The Marlborough Express