C-DRONE GUIDE · 5 AUGUST 2026
Counting missing vines in a vineyard by drone: method, replanting, prices
Every dead or uprooted vine is a recurring loss: in a vineyard planted at 8,000 vines per hectare, a 5% missing rate means 400 unproductive positions — several hectolitres lost, vintage after vintage. Between esca and the other trunk diseases, machinery accidents and climate stress, the missing rate drifts silently: few estates know it precisely, because counting on foot is long and tedious. The drone changes the scale: in one flight, every row is photographed, every vine position checked, and the gap map becomes a management tool — to plan replanting, back up a purchase negotiation or track dieback over time.
Published on 5 August 2026, reviewed on 5 August 2026 — regulations in force as of August 2026.
Why the missing rate is a strategic number
The missing rate feeds three major decisions. Replanting first: replacing dead vines means ordering plants (custom-grafted, often a year ahead), sizing the work and targeting the areas — decisions that demand a reliable inventory, per block and per row. Vineyard value second: in a sale or tenancy, actual yield potential depends directly on effective density; an objective audit of missing vines carries weight in the negotiation, exactly as a roof survey does for a building. Dieback monitoring last: comparing maps year over year reveals the dynamics — spreading esca clusters, rows weakened by drought — and lets you act before a block falls below the profitability threshold that justifies full grubbing-up.
Vineyard dieback claims several percent of French production potential every year: knowing your own rate, block by block, is the first step of any recovery plan.
The method: photograph every row, detect every gap
The typical mission flies in very high resolution RGB: the drone covers the block on a programmed route, images are assembled by photogrammetry, then dedicated processing reconstructs each row axis and checks for vegetation at every theoretical vine position, derived from the planting spacing. Two flight windows are used: in full canopy, where a gap in the foliage flags the missing vine (with the risk that a vigorous neighbour masks it), and in the dormant season, where bare trunks are detected individually. The choice depends on training system and vigour; on very vigorous blocks the two flights complement each other.
The reliability of these approaches is research-backed: Salvatore Filippo Di Gennaro and Alessandro Matese (Italian CNR) published in 2020 in Plant Methods an unsupervised procedure for canopy biomass estimation and missing plant detection from drone RGB images, tested on a real vineyard with 2.5D and 3D approaches (see the study on Google Scholar). The same flight delivers more than the gaps, too: a per-vine vigour map, useful for selective harvesting and diagnosing weak zones.
Deliverables: from the map to the plant order form
The typical delivery includes:
- The missing-vine map per block, overlaid on the orthophoto, with every gap geolocated — usable on a tablet in the middle of the rows.
- The summary table: rate per block and per row, exact number of plants to order, split by grape variety where the block layout allows.
- Year-over-year comparison when an earlier flight exists: new gaps, expanding clusters, success of past replanting (take rate).
- GIS exports (shapefile, GeoJSON) for the estate's or group's field management software.
The same campaign combines readily with other drone-based vineyard diagnostics: water stress in summer, spring frost risk mapping at the end of winter, and — on steep slopes — steep-slope spraying. One contractor, several deliverables, shared preparation.
2026 prices
Orders of magnitude observed in France in 2026 (excl. VAT):
- Missing-vine count alone (RGB flight, detection, map and summary): €50 to €120 per hectare depending on area and planting density, tapering beyond 20 hectares.
- Minimum call-out package: €400 to €600 — small estates should group with neighbours or through the cooperative winery.
- Combined campaign (missing vines + vigour map, or thermal): quoted case by case, the second deliverable costing far less once the flight is done.
- Pre-acquisition estate audit: priced on the block layout — often the cheapest item in the due diligence file relative to what it secures.
The cost compares with manual counting — several hours per hectare, error-prone — and above all with the shortfall of poorly targeted replanting. Request a quote stating area, planting spacing and objective (replanting, audit, monitoring): the optimal flight window follows from it.
Put it into practice
- Drone precision agriculture: rates and cities covered from €8
- Precision agriculture in Albi Occitanie
- Precision agriculture in Carcassonne Occitanie
- Precision agriculture in Valenciennes Hauts-de-France