11204 Frana - landslides in the vineyard

Oh wow, just what you need.....hope all goes well ........

[quote=piedmont_phil;106022]Hi folks
It's been a little busy over the past 6 weeks - we have been touring the UK promoting our wines. Returned just in time to get snowed in for a few days (last week). Now this weeks challenge is flood and landslides!
Here are some pictures of Monday's landslide in one of our vineyards over towards Cossan Belbo, in the Langhe area of Piedmont, something like 150 tonnes of mud and big trees collapsed onto the road and our Moscato d'Asti vineyard.[/quote]
very sorry,have had this too not this year as yet but we're always up for a landslide here too!that'll keep you busy for christmas no?

Thanks for posting photos. We too have had some landslides on our country road, but nothing as bad as yours. Will the vines be okay?

Our neighbour said that she had never seen so much rain at this time of year before and she added, [I]'and I am old'[/I].

All the best, wine must keep flowing...

Sorry to hear about your problem, Phil. I do hope that you will get all the necessary help. This bad weather is the culprit, but perhaps you will need to have a look at some of the trees and vegetation in the area.

Bloody Hell!

Hi all and thanks for the good wishes. A lot of the moscato d'asti vines are toast! I will update you on that score in the spring - no point trying to work out what is lost at the moment.
We rented a big excavator on Tuesday and took two days to clear the worst of it (this pic is from Wednesday morning) - lets see what the rest of winter brings along!
[IMG]http://www.piedmontwine.com/project1/landslide_2/images/CIMG3417.jpg[/IMG]

Hi Phil

Really sorry to see this and hope that it does not prove as bad as it looks and that the winter proves an easy one. Can echo the rainfall, in this part of Tuscany also the wettest we have seen since we arrived here (sx years)

Phil

I have been meaning to ask how you have been getting on.

In Northern Tuscany we have had uprecedented (according to the locals and not official stats. :smile:) rainfall. I am not easily phased, but I did have a chat with some of our neigbours who have lived here all their lives to see if we needed to worry about landslides. I live in the side of a hill as, it seems, do most people in Lunigiana!!!!!! :smile:.

We have had a few small landslides and uprooted trees (due to water breaking away the earth and not the wind) and have noticed almost daily, helicopters above (assume they are monitoring the situation). They said not to worry, but admitted that they had never seen rain like it.

Would be interested in an update of your place. All the best

Hi, sorry I have neglected the forum a little of late, got so much going on that a few things "slip" (pardon the pun).

[B]General update[/B] - In Piedmont we have continued to have extreme weather, with something like one foot (30 cm) of snow on Monday 2nd February. 24 hours later the precipitation turned to rain and that has been fairly non stop all week. I was actually in London (home of those unable to cope with 6 inches of snow) for most of the week, returning late Friday night. On the drive back (from Turin) I noticed that there have been quite a lot of further small landslides, mainly of the type that cause a flow of mud over the road surface in hilly areas. However there continue to be some serious cases of edge of road erosion, where the bank supporting the downhill side of a road actually collapses, often taking a bite of the road with it - so there are sections of roads with some significant problems. There is still snow on the ground, but in much smaller amounts as the rain washes through it. Rivers are all up but no where near the danger zones we saw before Christmas.

[B]Vineyard Update [/B] - We have not tried to do anything with the Moscato d'Asti vineyard over at Cossano Belbo which was covered (other than clear the road). This is a job for the spring. We are also trying to work out if there will be any "catastrophe" assistance from Regione Piemonte, as clearly this falls within the provisions of the civil aid act along with the washed away roads etc. In Castelnuovo Belbo we are way behind with this years pruning (I checked my vineyard diary to see where we were this time last year), in 2008 we had finished pruning by the end of January, today (7 Feb) we are less than half way through. Of course as the snow goes the soap like mud is revealed, so wading through that in the vineyard is not overly appealing.

I read your posts and admire your resilience. Your story would make a good book if you ever have the time to write it. A far far better book than those written by Americans in Tuscany may I say. It can all look so lovely from a distance...(when no mudslides etc), thank goodness you can drink the proceeds if push comes to shove!!! I salute you.