Wine growers in the South Island are bracing themselves for a potentially devastating frost, after a late winter blast swept through the region.
Sweeping in during the early hours of the morning, blizzard-like conditions sent temperatures plummeting down south as locals woke up to wintry scenes.
Southern wine makers are now holding their breath, with their young crops especially vulnerable to coming frosts.
"Potentially you could lose five, 10, or 100 per cent depending on what happens. It's just something you need to be able to fight and occasionally it will get the better of you.
It cut power to thousands of homes and even lifted a boat out of the water.
"If it does, well then that is a disaster," Duncan Forsyth from Mount Edward Winery told 1 NEWS.
TVNZ weather presenter Dan Corbett says there won't be a let up in frosts for a few days yet.
"We're looking at potentially three nights for frosts so you can imagine growers will be going "eurgh' watching their fruits, their grapes whatever it might be to take precautions," he said.
The late winter blast signalling that spring could yet be a roller coaster for the south.
SHARE ME