Hawke’s Bay vineyard lit up with 600 candles - no, it’s not an art show
A Hawke’s Bay vineyard is using a relatively rare - but spectacular - technique to avoid frost damage.
A Smith and Sheth vineyard in Omahu, near Hastings, was lit up with 600 candles on Friday morning to fight a potentially harsh frost.
Professional photographer Richard Brimer has been trying to get a snap of the vineyard lit up for a couple of years, and was on hand to capture the remarkable sight.
Common ways to fight frosts include frost fans, spraying water over crops, or even deploying helicopters over orchards and vineyards.
Nick Paulin, national viticulturalist at Aotearoa NZ Fine Wine Estates, the parent group of wine company Smith and Sheth, said candles were more common in Europe to fight frosts.
“Those candles we actually imported from France.”
He said the main reason they used them was the shape of the 3ha Omahu vineyard.
“It’s a really odd-shaped block. It is a long rectangle.
“So to cover it with wind machines is not cost-effective, like we’d have to put in two wind machines for [only] 3ha to cover it.”
He said they did not have access to large amounts of water either, so could not use water to avoid frost damage.
He said the candles, which they purchased in 2022, were not common because they were so labour intensive.
It took three staff about 45 minutes to light all 600 candles, during the middle of the night.
“No one is going to put these things out on 100ha.”
The candles themselves are made of plant-based wax with a cardboard wick, and are moved around in steel buckets, and can be stored away when not required.
Paulin said the vineyard had alarms that trigger when the temperature drops to 1.5C, and staff are kept on standby.
If temperatures reach zero, it can seriously damage the crops, so prevention is required.
MetService recorded the temperature in Hastings dropped to 0.5C on Friday morning, and 1.3C in Napier.
The Smith and Sheth cellar door is located in Havelock North village.
Police called over frost helicopters
Two people were so concerned by the sound of helicopters flying over Hawke’s Bay early on Friday morning that they called the police.
A police spokesman said reports of the helicopters came in from Hillary Cres in Maraenui at 12.30am and Ulyatt Rd in Meeanee at 2.20am.
In both cases, police made inquiries and determined the noise was from helicopters working to keep frost off fruiting plants, the spokesman said.
It was a busy night for orchardists, with this time of year crucial for keeping vulnerable fruit from getting frost damage.