Thirsty and hungry wild boar have entered our vineyard. Here you can see what it looks like when wild boars eat grapes.
Today I received a phone call I wish I hadn’t. Our friend who helps us in our vineyard in Acquapendente in Italy has bad news. The otherwise calm and mature Italian man bursts out
I cried when I saw it. It is horrible!
Most of our property has a fence. The reason is to keep out the animals who love mature grapes. But we have a part outside the fence which is only partly fenced, because it borders several other neighbors. This is perhaps our best soil and grapes. It is in this area that wild boars have plundered this night.
My parents-in-law are looking after the vineyard these days, while I am in Norway. I ask them to take some pictures. One of them shows that the wild boars have dug big holes in the field, looking for roots to eat.
But they have not only done this. They have also tasted the grapes which are still on the vines waiting for harvest in a few weeks.
Wild boars can do great destructions. The worse thing is that they haven’t even eaten properly. Some places they have broken off the canopy and half-eaten grape bunches are left behind on the ground.
It is evident that it is wild boar, seeing their traces. One adult and two children seem to have strolled here.
Wild boars eat grapes also in other vineyards
It is a known fact that animals and wild boars eat grapes, such as described in this article in Decanter. In Tuscany and Lazio in Italy, the most feared animal is wild boar. I have compassion with the other grape growers I have talked to earlier who have experienced this, such as the other Norwegian wine producer further south from me in Lazio, who I wrote about in this article. It is about the reduction of grapes in Italy this year due to the extreme heat and drought.
Scare the wild boars away
My in-laws have followed my advice to do as some of our neighbors. It seems a bit strange, but they have decorated the vines with colorful party-decor, in an attempt to scare the animals away.
They have been even more creative. They have made a fence with chairs.
Our Italian friend has also placed a hunter among the vines. Our friend is a great hunter and he hunts wild boar every autumn. But the hunting season does not start until November, after the harvest.
As the wine guide I met when I visitied Franciacorta in Italy said
This year we have had spring frost, hail, heat and drougt. Det only thing lacking is a nuclear missil from North-Korea.
But we still have hope. They are harvesting grapes now in Franciacorta, in a few weeks it is my turn.
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