Snow in Hermitage

On April 16 and 17 (seems like ages ago now) Hermitage had, very unexpectedly, heavy snow fall. For two days we had (we happened to be there that week-end) five centimetres of snow on the ground. We talked to Joel Duran, one of the leading growers in Cornas and St Joseph, and he commented: “I am not very old but all the same this is only the second time I see snow in April. The first time was on April 27 in 1981”. Joel and other growers we talked to were not worried for the vines though: ”What is dangerous is the star bright nights – nuits blanches. That’s when you can get frost. On the contrary, the snow is good for the vines. They need water and the snow will melt slowly and let the soil absorb the water”. Read more in Decanter. (we wrote the piece)