Freezing conditions, including some of the worst snowfall for decades, brought predictions of doom and gloom for Chilean growers at the beginning of the last quarter, but the period ends with confident predictions that the harvest could in fact surpass last season’s levels.
It has been an expensive operation for some producers, however, with helicopters and warm air blowing machines employed at great cost as an emergency measure to protect the vines from serious damage.
Eugenio Munizaga, president of the country’s Federation of Northern Fruit Growers, told local press that some of the larger growers paid for up to 12 helicopters to fly three to four metres above their vines when the coldest days of winter threatened their crop, with upwards of 1,000 hectares covered by this form of positive intervention. Additionally, around 1,400ha more were saved by the use of high-speed warm wind machines that blew heat through the vineyards.
The rapid response of the industry has salvaged huge volumes and will ensure that the early grape job from Chile will in fact produce 14 million cartons, as opposed to the 13m cartons it delivered last season.
It could not, however, prevent a delay to the production period and forecasts at this point suggest that there will be a 10 to 15-day delay in places. Copiapó, the earliest growing area in Chile, escaped the chilliest temperatures and therefore the worst of any damage and is expected to send its first fruit on time and local growers have said the cold snap had a favourable effect on the grapes, increasing volumes from the region on the 2006-07 campaign.
