Wein, Wärme, Wandel

Approximately 2,000 paraffin candles were used in the vineyards around the monastery during a late-April frost threat, raising local temperature by as much as 2 °C. The seven hectares concerned first had to be mown before the candles could be safely distributed and lit. The measure followed the severe experience of 2017, when −6 °C temperatures destroyed around 70% of young shoots in a single spring night. Celestino Lucin describes heat, heavy rainfall, drought and frost as increasingly persistent since 2017. Varieties now ripen earlier and more simultaneously, compressing the delivery and processing window; in 2022 harvest ended during September. Manual picking remains important because it enables selection in the vineyard, a task considered impractical at night. Targeted canopy work is also used to reduce excessive solar exposure, particularly in Oltradige.