Four of the last six springs have brought late frosts threatening vines at the beginning of the annual growth cycle. The moisture laden buds are vulnerable to negative temperatures as the freezing process causes irreversible damage and can significantly impact crop yield at harvest.

  • Radiative frosts occur on clear, calm spring nights when the ground loses heat, a layer of warm air forms and traps cooler air beneath it at ground level.
  • Advective frosts, or wind frosts, occur when a mass of cold air moves into an area. The air is mixed well, removing any warm inversion layers and lowering the temperature below freezing. Water vapour condenses and freezes on all exposed surfaces.

Frost candles have been used for decades in France for frost protection. They can be expensive to purchase and carry additional costs for the nightshift to monitor. Small vineyard teams may find the task logistically challenging, stressful and financially risky. Frost candles work by heating the localised area, however crucially the buds still have a high-water content and are potentially at risk if the temperature drop is too severe or a slight breeze turns the frost from radiative to advective.

Ventigel offer a simple and practical solution, working in two ways to protect against both radiative and advective frosts:

  • Firstly, ventilate early, dry out the area and remove as much moisture as possible from the buds, preventing condensation forming.
  • Secondly, heating the air. If the temperatures continue to fall during the night the 2x 110kw heaters can feed warm air to the 11kW fan delivering 60,000m3 of warm air per hour. For scale an Olympic swimming pool is only 2,500m3.

Ventigel is very mobile thanks to its three-point hitch and can also be easily mounted on an agricultural trailer, allowing it to easily be deployed amongst your vines by a single person. The high flow electric fan has a tilt adjustment and continually rotates a full 360° at desired intervals of two to eight minutes. The fan is powered by a 400v supply, either via an extension cable up to 150m, or alternatively a generator (stand-alone or tractor mounted PTO driven)

The on-board heater has an integrated 105 litre fuel tank and will run maintenance free for 9.5 hours giving you peace of mind that you have effective frost protection throughout the night over an area of two to three hectares.