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This all started
after we kept getting asked about what was going on at the vineyard.
Like topsy things have developed over the years. What's nice is we
have a diary or "Blog" going back to 2001.
20th February 2010
Wood pulling well underway, the weather has been kind
but very cold.
2nd February 2010
That's the pruning completed, all we have to do is sort
out the removal of all the wood from the rows, replace posts and tie in,
so not much to do really!
27th January 2010
Paul has been in the cider shed today looking at the
batch of cider we pressed on the 17th of December and despite the cold it
has been fermenting, natural yeasts are much more resilient it would seem
than wine and cider making commercial yeasts.
15th January 2010
Pruning proceeds as planned, we are
looking at a cider apple planting for this yearand Paul is to go and visit
a nursery to have a look at some Kingston Black and Yarlington Mill Trees
as we do want our own cider apples.
1st January
2010
A new year time
to go pruning, Paul is certain that should the number of vines we have
increase over the years the "official" start to pruning will get
earlier. Paul prunes in 3 stages, firstly the vines are cut
leaving what is needed for the growing season, then the surplus wood is
removed and pulped into the ground and finally the vines are tied in.
I am sure there are other methods but it keeps him happy!
30th November
2009
Just back from
the Devizes Christmas Festival very busy and good to see so many people,
the lantern festival and the arrival of Father Christmas was really
good.
13th November
2009
Finally got the
web updater to update so we can get this thing back online. We
continue to move with the times and you can follow the occasional
outburst on Twitter.
27th October
2009
We have
finished, in hindsight leaving the Seyval on a little longer would have
been ideal but you have to balance crop cleanliness, ripeness and pests
such as wasps and birds to maximise the crop. The best bit of the
year has to be the Auxerrois coming in at the right acid and an on
target sugar reading, a perfect way to close out the year. Canopy
management is a proven approach to getting the best from your vines.
5th October
2009
And we are off,
the Pinot Noir comes off nice and clean but after the last two years of
lower harvests I'm not certain if there will be enough to make red and
rosé we are in the hands of the winemaker. Reichensteiner and
first pick of the Seyval will follow next followed by the Dunkelfelder
which seems to be like a good old British rail train running late this
year
20th September
2009
The weather
continues to improve, we are harvesting apples and pressing to make
juice and the first batch of cider is up and running. Final sprays
of botrytis prevention chemicals have been used, the bird scarer is
running and keeping the neighbours awake as it makes a right din.
Canopy management work continues to get as much sunlight onto the
grapes.
28th August
2009
James is back
with us working systematically through the vines, our particular
interest is in getting the Auxerrois to the right Oeschle and acid
readings, "what" I hear you cry, well Oeschle is the scale we use to
measure the sugar content and hence the potential alcohol content of
grape must, and the acidity readings indicate if a wine will be too tart
i.e. has too much acidity or too little meaning it is likely to be
flabby or lacking structure. Ideally we want to achieve 70 to 75
Oeschle or Oe and around 8.5 grams per litre of acidity.
14th August
2009
The weather has
been interesting, hot and dry and now wetter, no signs of disease but
the rain will help the berries to swell, we can certainly see the
potential for a good harvest, I think that we will have to accept that
the two preceding years 2007 and 2008 will have had an effect on the
size of the flowers and that will probably mean smaller bunches.
It is funny working with a crop that bases its future potential on the
current years flowering performance.
18th July 2009
We've always
kept right on top of disease and trimming of the vines but this year we
are going further with particular emphasis on canopy management.
No this is not some weird and wonderful fad but a really essential step
to our vineyard management as it helps optimise the amount of growth the
vines makes along with how much fruit it produces to ensure optimum
ripeness. Helping us do this is a man called James who professes a
real interest in these matters. The proof is in the pudding so
they say, let us see what happens in October.
11th July 2009
Paul was right
concerning the vine trimmer, belts keep coming off and one of the
pulleys is worn so he has been speaking to Gary a local agricultural
contractor and he arranged for Paul to go and see Ray who is reputed to
be a genius. Ray took one look at the machine and he could
immediately diagnose the main problem with the top rotor moving on its bolts, it
seems over the years the bolt holes have enlarged making the motor rock
and this results in the belt flying off. He has also recommended a
replacement pulley and even Paul could fit it and the machine went back
together and worked brilliantly. Thanks Ray and Gary for your help
on that one.
28th June 2009
Hang on what
happened here, we go away for a week and return to find the vineyard has
gone full speed ahead, such amazing growth and we are starting flowering
so we are very pleased. The new sprayer has been very busy making
certain we have no disease issues. The next task is to make the
vine trimmer function this should be interesting as it can be a little
temperamental.
15th June 2009
It's time for a
busman's holiday we are off to Bordeaux to see what those French chaps
get up to, we are taking some red and rosé to make sure we fly the flag.
Just had the
results of the wine competition, 2 silvers and one highly commended just
ecstatic to know our wines can compete at the top of the industry I just
wish we had more planted to keep up with demand.
29th May 2009
The vines are
not only off but are going from strength to strength, We have started
our spray program and have a new sprayer to get used to, so much quieter
and yet it sends spray out very fast, when the vines are in full leaf we
should get the spray right through the canopy.
17th May 2009
We have our
Rosé back and it tastes wonderful many thanks Steve (our wine maker) and
as usual it is going like hot cakes to our trade and retail customers.
18th April 2009
Have to admit
things are getting a little challenging with the pruning but thanks to
Mike and Jim we have caught ourselves up and we are now ready for bud
burst. Mowing like crazy as the grass is off and running and
I have managed to get 2 roundup sprays in this year.
15th March 2009
Thank heavens
for the long winter as we are behind on pruning, a cold snap despite the
energy sapping effect on the pruner means the vines will stay dormant
for longer. We are about 60% prunned.
26th February
2009
Pruning is
going quite well but after a run of warmer weather a cold snap really
saps the strength, we have a couple of helpers working on the pruning to
help speed things along.
20th January 2009
We have finally
built up a head of steam, we prune in stages, firstly we move through
the rows cutting the wood so as to select the parts of the vine we want
to retain. So far we have "cut" 15 rows. After cutting each
row we will then remove or "pull" the wood out leaving the part of the
vine we need for the growing season. The final stage sees us tie
down the shoots to form the base for this seasons growth.
We choose to
mulch our pruning's in the row to add as a feed to the soil, some
vineyards remove all the prunings and burn them as they believe old wood
can harbour disease spores. So far we have been ok with disease so
i'm with the French who mulch in and have been doing so for years.
Our lovely
friends at the EU are now advising people removing a vineyard not to mow
down to the ground and plough in as they say the old wood contains
traces of copper and other substances so a vineyard must be dug up and
disposed of via specialist contractors, mmmm jobs for the boys!
How people have barbeques with vine pruning's?
1st January
2009
A new year and
as per usual Paul ventures out after the new year revels to prune vines,
it is good to get things going we hope the pruning goes well.
23rd December
2008
Some would say
that the credit crunch has hit home in retail, as yet we are only
delighted with progress, we did the Christmas at the Cloisters Event at
Lacock again and the Potterne Christmas Fayre and both were really
successful. We also attended the Devizes Christmas Fair, in the
round a good show ut from 12pm to 5pm for the first real signs of
customers is a little hard to take. I could be accused of lacking
Christmas spirit at this point......
What will 2009
bring, well we have postponed the additional planting of 3,000 Pinot
Noir vines as the economic situation does not seem too hot so best to be
safe than sorry.
9th November
2008
It went with a
bang, my thanks to Jim and Mike for their help. With the grapes
and apples safely in, wine in tank and cider pressed we can put our feet
up. Hang on it's the Christmas sales period so no rest for the
wicked.
2nd November
2008
That's it all
the grapes are in, our last bath of Seyval we sold on as the prices this
year were so inflated we almost doubled what we would normally expect.
We have also picked the last of the apples and we have the apple
processing more under control so 2009 will be much better. Just
looking locally we have been able to find over 250 trees that have been
made available to us and we are certain that more "Wiltshire Apples"
exist out there it just remains for us to find them. Preparations
are in hand for our Pickers Party and this year it is going to be a hell
of a bash we confidently expect both Littleton Panell and West Lavington
to hear and see the party.
21st October
2008
Yields are
again lower than we would like but quality is very high, we have picked
the Pinot Noir, Reichensteiner, Dunkelfelder and our first pick of
Seyval Blanc. Points to note are grapes are clean, sugars are
good, lower yield 70% on the white and 50% on the red. On the red
the juice levels are low so as mentioned earlier you end up with Jam.
We pressed some of the Dunkelfelder here (our first grape pressing on
site) and made grape juice, when we took the rest of the grapes to the
winery we started the press and 25 minutes passed before we got any
juice, all that rain and what a weird result.
5th October 2008
Grape picking
is once more the number one item and we are pleased that our band of
volunteers are ready and willing to help us. First off is the
Pinot Noir and just to show what a strange year it has been we have
plenty of grapes but despite the rain very little juice. We are
having our wine made in Shepton Mallet this year and looking at the
grapes after being de-stemmed it looked like jam, the flavours were
really concentrated and the sugars could give us 12% potential alcohol,
not bad for England and for the summer we have just had. As it
turns out we are going to use the Pinot in our Rosé as many customers
are asking for more, we both wish we could produce more but that times
time and also money.
27th September
2008
Apples abound,
we are picking like crazy to ensure we don't lose out on juice making
potential. Apple pressing is fun and also knackering, I'm sure
with the right capital a far more automated solution could be found but
these are early days. Even so we have to take quality seriously as
this is food and we have had a visit from Environmental Health and all
is in order. With some help from Tom we have made our first apple
juice and it tastes great, we can't wait to get it on sale.
15th September
2008
The weather
improves further still, as we stopped spraying some time back save for
some Botrytis sprays the wet weather has allowed a little downy mildew
in. As diseases go it is an opportunistic one seeking to attack
the vine when under stress, we can combat it with a range of sprays and
treatments including the delightfully named SL567a, that has to be one
for the marketeers out there. Trouble is costs a small fortune and
you only need 5ml per 100 litres of water.
30th August
2008
We have now
harvested the plums, they go out to a local green grocer or farm shop
and we initially thought that there would be a low yield but nature has
a way of surprising you. The apples are also doing well, this year
the only casualty is our Cox as the flowers got hit by frost which is a
real pity.
Paul has been
trying for some years to sell spotty apples to consumers and traders
with limited success so he is taking the plunge and buying apple
pressing kit and this will be launched as Wiltshire Apple Juice.
20th August 2008
I might be
getting older but I think my memory is still good, the weather seems to
be doing a repeat of last year, the forecast suggests things will cheer
up which will really help the vines along. Will a re-run of 2007
happen let us wait and see. The weather has certainly taken its
toll of the tourism industry many attractions locally here are seeing
less visitors this year.
27th July 2008
I can't
remember if St Swithans Day was wet or dry but I have a sneaking
suspicion that it might have been wet, the weather is at best
indifferent which makes the vines proceed on a go slow basis.
Flowering which should be a 2 week affair across the varieties but we
have seen over 3 weeks of flowering and on the Seyval not all is
completed. It does make harvest planning rather a challenge.
I think the
weather is affecting tourism here in Wiltshire, I have spoken to a
number of visitor attractions and they are not as busy as last year,
watch this space.
We have been
extra careful of spraying this year with all the wet weather, extra
diligence pays dividends.
18th June 2008
Flaming June so
they say, well perhaps not this year, I think the weather has rather
dampened the tourism trade and we have been ensuring the spray program
has been 100%.
23rd May
2008
English
Wine Week is now underway, so we took a holiday as it clashes with half
term and as we have children and it's half term something had to give.
However we did get back in time for the Bristol Vegan Fair on the 30th
of May, a real buzz, great food and music from Misty in Roots and Aswad
oh the memories. We enjoyed the show and found many Vegans did not
realise how much drink was produced using gelatine and issinglass.
The weather continues to confuse us though I hear our French colleagues
are coping with outbreaks of disease that have caught some of them on
the hop.
When there are
only 2 of you plus our part timers to run the place you really can over
do it, we did the Real Food Festival at Earls Court, 5 days of setting
up, late nights and cheap London accommodation mmmmmm. As for the
show, £18 to get in and the organisers gave away a number of stalls to a
large wine merchant who dispenses free wine all day. So what was
billed as a farmers market type event ended up with wine merchants
amongst others alongside us so the focus was changed. As for the
visitors we had plenty but they were intent on drinking and eating there
way round the show as the £18 entry fee meant the wanted value, and I
have to agree I would have done the same thing. The funniest part
of the show for me was the "Gala Night" which meant staying open from
10am to 9.30pm and tickets cost £26 for the evening event, all folks got
was some wine and I had a lady at our stall looking to strangle the
organiser.
What did it do
for us, well we learnt that large events are glug fests and they should
be avoided and that we were so tired from being bright and cheerful all
day, spare feet are an essential future upgrade for the human race.
Tom and Max came to help and it was much appreciated allowing both of us
some respite.
27th
April 2008
We
are on tenterhooks as one minute the vines look like they are about to go
and then the weather changes and we worry about bud burst and frost
damage, any day now will see things underway.
We have
just come back from the English Wine trade Tasting held this year at
Lords Cricket Ground we had a great reaction to our Rosé
and Sparkling it is also a good time to meet up with fellow Vineyard
owners and contacts in the trade.
We also
attended a Food and Drink expo at the NEC, very knackering but many
useful contacts made, I think i'll need a new set of feet. Tom
joined us on the stand, we have a photo of Tom that is so apt for the
vineyard it will go up on the gallery page once created.
25th
March 2008
The
weather confuses me which at my age is not that difficult, one day warm
another cold I think it is sending mixed messages to the vines.
We
have finished pruning and we are checking the vine posts and also
attending to some of the trees in the orchard, the amount of wood you can
cut from a tree is amazing, it will make quite a bonfire.
24th
February 2008
Pruning is now 90% complete, this should be finished this week and we
will be pulling out the remaining old wood from the rows and mulching it
into the ground. The weather has been giving us excellent pruning
conditions but a little too warm a little too soon me thinks.
Once pruning is out of the way we have to replace any posts, check the
wires, finish apple pruning and paint the winery, not much going on
really.
8th February 2008
Our Estate Rosé goes on sale and demand looks good. Sorting out cardboard
boxes has been this weeks challenge, we have a solution but it's not 100%
satisfactory. If any reader works in packaging please do get in touch.
25th Janaury 2008
We have been educated, Hans came and explained pruning in more detail
than perhaps we could have ever thought possible. When he started the
brutality he seemed to be showing to a vine was really rather frightening
but when you look closely it does make sense. All 4 of us have been
working our way through the rows and we have 20 out of 55 pruned so far.
My hands have callouses where I never thought possible, that desk job I
used to do is very inviting at this point.
1st January 2008
A new year and after last night one that Paul will be spending without
alcohol for a while. No alcohol for a vineyard owner I hear you cry well
just for a month, Paul is certain it will do him some good.
Paul has done a symbolic prune of the vines today, with more to do this
year than every, getting started makes a lot of sense. Max, Steve and
Paul will get educated in pruning from Hans in the next few days.
Paul thinks that the credit crunch has started to bite, sales are still
good but it felt as if the "Christmas zing" was not there for
some reason.
12th December 2007
The winery is now structurally complete, the electrics and equipment
follows next. Considering the mess back in April we have a really fab
building as a result.
Our Estate Rosé is now in bottle, I don't think we will have it out
before Christmas which would be nice but you can't do absolutely
everything.
The newly refurbished shop has opened to good reviews, for a start it is
heated which is certainly an improvement. With a little help from Bag
(you know who you are) and Lynn the decorations have been completed and a
seasonal theme becomes reality.
10th November 2007
With the harvest in we can relax and look forward to tonights pickers
party, we hold this every year as a thankyou to all the folks who have
helped us across the year. I somehow think the firework array we have
laid on will delight and surprise.
The winery doors are now on, a very big thank you to Father in Law Vic
for the master carpenter input, we can now offer refereshments in the
winery which is a real delight.
10th October 2007
Picking has started, the Pinot Noir was to be first but we had to delay
due to the winery not be available thae day we wanted, then on Monday the
heavens opened undoing all the good work. So we rescheduled to the
Wesdesday and this resulted in the Reichensteiner being delayed to the
Friday and by then the rot had set in and we have lost some grapes as a
result. The joys of agriculture and all of this would have been avoided
if we had our own winery, roll on 2008.
29th September 2007
Picking is just around the corner, I would love to be doing this years
harvest ourselves as we could pick when we are ready and not be reliant
on another vineyard. The pickers are ready we just want as much of the
good weather before we start.
15th September 2007
I can't believe this weather, I know the English have something about the
weather but the autumn is really shaping up into something rather
interesting. The grapes are really ripening now, the Auxerrois have been
stripped of leaves, a task much like vine trimming in so much as it is a
real fag and we must get a machine for next year. The more the grapes see
the sun the better it will be in ripeness terms.
Apples continue to be picked and shipped, the loss of our juice making
capability is really annoying, the bank are less than helpful and I think
the complaint will run and run.
21st August 2007
As if by magic the weather is turning in our favour, true it has been wet
but the vines seem to be coming through this ok. We have had to resort to
the heavyweight mildew solutions to keep the crop clean.
The apple harvest has started, we are shipping apples to Planks Farm
Shop, Boyton Farm Shop and Village Veg in Devizes. The crop is excellent
and we should have some for juice and some for cider.
The winery has now acquired a roof, Max and I spent a day putting the
roof on and it was far far easier than I had imagined, funny how some
jobs are like that. We now have to insulate it and board out the interior.
We have been anticipating the delivery of our wine press from
Austria but Barclays
have sadly disrupted international commerce by loosing the money so we
have just learnt that the seller had got tired of waiting and has sold
the press, I am taking this up with Barclays as we can't make juice on
site now due to their error.
27th July 2007
I think we can see light at the end of the tunnel. We have had media
interest in the delightful weather but we seem to have come through
unscathed. The vines are clean and with our new Laubschneider (Vine
Trimmer) things do look neat and tidy. Paul did the Devizes Food and
Drink Festival during the month and was scheduled to do the Marlborough
Country Fair but it was rained off or should I say flooded out, this is
for the second year running, poor chaps!
Our apples are looking good and we should have a good harvest with them
and the plums.
The winery now has 4 walls, a roof would be good and Paul is just like
British Rail "getting there" More pictures on that shortly.
26th June 2007
I think we've had enough water now! Thankfully we are on greensand over
chalk so the site is well drained. Flowering is underway, too much rain
could affect one or two varieties (Seyval and Dunkelfelder) but we should
come through ok.
Paul had to do one of the Quality Wine Tastings in
London, he has over
30 wines to sample and grade according to quality. Some of the 2006
vintage seems to be tasting well but one or two wines still get put
through when they have basic winemaking faults.
On the winery we now have more of the cladding up and this might be
finished by the end of July.
27th May 2007
Strange month May, last year boiling hot, this year mild and wet, very
wet, still that means after the great start in April the vines have all
the water they need.
We finally have the labels for our sparkling wine and can now sell, this
has been hastened with the selection of our wine for a wiltshire wedding.
We know this is a business but someone choosing our wine for their
special day is a real buzz, it was pleasing for Paul to deliver the wine
to the Brides family a few days before the happy day.
The winery frame is now up and cladding has begun, it is good to see the
building take shape.
29th April 2007
Last year bud burst at the end of the month and we were worried that this
would impact on the growing seasons but nature has a strange way of
equalising itself and by the end of June all was on track if not ahread
of schedule.
The reichensteiner started on the 4th of April with Pinot Noir following
close behind and what a month it has been. Such a fast start always
worries us in terms of a late frost which can really set things back. We
did have to light the fires on one occasion but the weather changed
during the night warming up so by morning and sunrise it was already 5
degrees centigrade so the fires were not needed.
April is also Trade Tasting month, English Wine Producers host a show
this year at BAFTA in
London and Urbis in
Manchester, we really
wanted to have our Sparkling Wine available for tasting. We duly took the
bottles from the cellar to
Stanlake Park who have the
disgorging equipment. I had mentioned to Vince who runs the winery that
we needed samples for London
and he said it would not be a problem. Unfortunately the machine broke
down so some heath robinson creativity was needed to get us the wine
"on time". As it turned out the bottles were only ready to be
shipped to the tasting. This meant that we arrived at 9.50am to set up
our stand and at 10.15 we opened the wine and looked at each other with
delight at the tatse and quality, we could show this to the trade with
confidence. As it turned out it was a popular choice with some 6 bottles
going for tasting on the day.
We finally got the footings and concrete base laid so work can really
start on making the winery a reality. Lynn's Father Vic has been sorting out
the required wood and construction begins.
30th March 2007
With prunning finished on the apples and vines we are now turning our
attention to mowing, weed control and getting the vine lines ready for
the season.
28th February 2007
Pruning of the vines is now well underway, Roger and Phil help us with
pruning and return each year so the vines get a consistent standard of
pruning. The disposal of the prunings has been taxing us as we don't want
to burn them as that adds to global warming.
Steve with a little help from Paul has been working though the apple
orchards and it is our intention this year to get as many of the trees
back into useful production. If we thought that the vines produced a lot
of waste, the apple trees need a farm more drastic solution as they have
not been prunned for some 12 years. We will have to bring in a shredder
to chip everything, this will be quite a beast.
21st January 2007
It might be the off season and most of the wine buying public are getting
over the excesses of Christmas 2006 but we have been busy.
We attended the Wine Plus exhibition at Olympia and it was great to get
feedback on the wine and hopefully more business leads.
We are finalising the plans for the winery and hope to have construction
underway shortly
We have had a small brush with the local bureaucrats who have objected to
our new vineyard sign. We got a standard letter stating that we must remove
within 7 days or criminal procedures may commence. This was not nice and
after chatting to them they had failed to notice that the site had had a
sign for some 25 years and we had just replaced this. Still it requires a
new planning application and more fees to the local authority to be
approved.
3rd January 2007
Happy New Year! Christmas was a very busy time for us, we had hoped to
have our Rose available for Christmas but the best laid plans of mice and
men etc.... It should be available v shortly.
The vine pruning starts tomorrow and we are already clearing through the
Orchard so we can start pruning the apple trees. Our new shop has
arrived, Paul has the challenge of making it all fit together mmmmm.
Let's see what happens.
All our 2006 wines in tanks seem fine, we shall taste again later this
month to see just how good the year really was.
2nd December 2006
Paul is up early getting ready for Christmas in the Cloisters at Lacock
Abbey, this annual event is something we have been to many times as
visitors but never as a trader. We are hoping that the two days go well
and we get a good reactions from customers to our wines.
29th November 2006
Our local The Green Dragon decided that our appearance on Ready Steady
Cook was a good use of the big TV screen usually reserved for football.
Steve and Nicky who run the Dragon opened early and also cooked the
recipes (well Nicky did) that Paul and Lynn helped create. The food was
excellent and we felt really special for our 15 minutes of fame. Reaction
from folks locally and further afield has been very positive with the
right amount of good natured abuse!
14th November 2006
All the grapes have been gathered in and we are set fair for Christmas.
Paul is busy attending events in the run upto Christmas and we are
opening more this month and through December.
A few tiding up jobs remain, putting away equipment and the like. Don't
forget 600 apple trees to prune and 5,100 vines so life won't be dull!
2nd November 2006
How the season changes things. On Monday all the vines were green leafed,
then the frost strikes and overnight leaves fall changing the appearance
of the whole site.
Having finished picking we have been able to turn off the gas banger bird
scarer much to the delight of the neighbours.
Last Saturday Paul was at the Marlborough Feast of Food held in the main
hall at Marlborough
College and what a
cornucopia of foodie treats. On the plus side he was too busy to venture
out and go shopping. Big thanks to Jim who helped on the day.
Final preparations for the pickers party are in hand, this is our
opportunity to say thanks to all the folks who have helped us across the
year.
27th October 2006
What two updates in a month and when we are picking whatever has come
over us. What a month, we started picking the Pinot and the rain came
down, it was not an ideal day to be vendaging but many thanks to our team
you know who you are.
We then followed on with the Reichensteiner and Dunkelfelder, an
experience that I cannot describe for legal reasons. We can only mourn
for what was lost on the day.
Our usual team of contract pickers came along for the Auxerrois and first
Seyval pick and a fine day helped get some 4 tonnes in.
We are now set for our final pick of circa 3 tonnes next Monday. We may
have a bonus pick later in November it just depends on quantity.
During picking we have been on the telly, the story goes that an e-mail
came our way from a small TV company called Endemol looking for local
food to feature as part of British Food Fortnight. Both of us thought
let's see if we can get our wine and apple juice on the programme. Little
did we know that it meant we had to appear on Ready Steady Cook! We went
along for an interview and having passed we went filming on the 12th of
October and what an experience it was. They really do have just 20
minutes to do the cooking with no breaks, it was frenetic and both of us
were completely knackered by the end.
The day was truly great, we were made so welcome and Ainsley, Lesley and
Gino were fab to work with.
As for who won and what Gino said to Lynn about her curiously shapped
vegetable....... you'll have to wait until the 29th November at 4pm, Paul
is thinking of leaving the country briefly.
3rd October 2006
Rain rain go away and guess what, it did! September was the warmest since
1949 and we know that the vines really benefited from the warmth. Then
right at the end things got a little wet and with picking about to start
Paul admits to getting a little stressed. Lynn admits to getting stressed with
Paul as he can't give a straight answer as the picking decision is
governed by the weather.
We have around 17 tons of grapes to bring in and all has been prepared,
vines trimmed, anti rot spray applied on the Seyval, boxes washed, grape
scissors sharpened and oiled, pickers recruited and transport laid on.
All is set for Thursday and we hope and pray the weather holds. The rest
of the picking begins next week with the Dunkelfleder and Reichensteiner
coming off.
We did the Devizes Food and Drink Festival and it was a real success,
good weather and a great atmosphere and a chance to meet new customers
and many of our regular supporters.
We recently tried our 2005 red which we know many folks are awaiting the
release with eager anticipation and first impressions are very
encouraging a good nose with berry fruit and an excellent fruity finish.
Later this month we have a rather exciting event to attend as part of
British Food Forthnight be ready, steady for more details once it
happens.
20th September 2006
Time flies as you approach harvest, all the vines are trimmed and looking
really good except for a late attack of downy mildew. This is the first
time we have "had the pleasure" and as the vines are hard at
work on a great harvest they are a little more susceptible to this type
of disease. Being as its food we are producing we cannot throw the
standard treatment on the vines as it could contaminate the end product.
So with a little foliar feed and lots of vine trimming we have it all
under control.
Speaking of vine trimming, back in July Paul ordered a vine trimmer from Germany,
he asked the bank to send the funds and between our bank and the sellers
bank the money vanished for about 7 weeks. So we have had to trim all the
vines by hand, when you have 16 kilometres of hedge to trim that's quite
a task as you have to do it 4 times (roughly). Steve and to a lesser
extent Paul have been hard at work hedge trimming. Finally the vine
trimmer arrives just in time to be put in store until next year
"argh!"
As August ended we had some strong winds and we had a couple of rows fall
over in places and this means loads of work drilling holes and bashing in
posts, all very negative. One upside was when we drilled one of the end
posts to find that our soil (greensand) has chalk underneath which is
perfect vine growing soil!
Even today with hurricane Gordon hitting the north of the UK Paul has
been watching the vine lines with considerable concern.
All the Grapes look fantastic, the red are especially good and we have
turned on our bird scaring tool, a lovely gas banger. This will without
doubt annoy the neighbours, so through this medium I would just like to
apologise, I am happy to replace it with willing volunteers running up
and down the vines from dawn to dusk.
Picking should be scheduled for week 1, 2 and 3 of October so it will be
all hands to the pumps then. In the mean time we have been picking fruit
mainly plums and apples. This year there has been a real resurgence in
the interest in apples so much so that we have our own apple juice
shortly to be avalable.
27th August 2006
I'm getting less efficient at updating these pages for which I apologise,
sometimes juggling a day job, family and a vineyard can be rather
challenging. July was a month to savour, the weather was simply
fantastic, the heat really suited the vines. At times it almost seemed
you could watch the vines grow. The grapes developed well with the heat
and we had to trim back the vines foliage to help manage the leaf canopy.
This is important for a number of reasons, too much foliage means the
vine row becomes very heavy and could on a windy day snap the posts, also
no light to the grapes slows development, no air movement means that air
borne disease can strike and finally making the grapes visible helps the
pickers when that time comes.
Speaking of picking we have already started, no not on grapes but on
apples and plums, we have so much fruit that we cannot let it fall to the
floor. Hopefully the produce will be sold locally and also to Bristol
Market.
As we moved into August the red grapes commenced their magical change
from green ro red and we now have to have the bird scarers in operation
to ensure we don't lose the crop.
The weather in August has been ideal, it remained warm but we had rain
and just enough to swell the grapes, we hope and pray that September is
dryer and warmer and then we will be all set for a good harvest.
12th July 2006
It has been a while since we last updated and so much to tell, during the
last month all the vines have flowered and the fruit set was almost as
good as 2005. Again the Seyval was first out of the trap and the grapes
are already half a centimetre across, the rain recently is swelling the
grapes. Wine sales ontinue and we will soon be launching our 2005 whites.
I have the rest of the year to upload and will do so just as soon as I
can, so much has happened.
17th December 2005
With Christmas fast approaching it has been good to see mother nature
working on the vines, the cold weather helps clear up any disease and also
sends the vines to sleep so they can rest. We have been looking at new
plantings for next year and deciding what to do.
Roll on Christmas and perhaps some snow?
16th November 2005
Running a vineyard means also getting involved in the UK wine industry
and Paul has taken on the role of Chair of the Wessex Vineyards
Association which covers Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of
Wight. This Thursday the annual wine competition is being held and he has
along with other members been organising judges and getting the wine
ready. We have decided to enter all 3 of our wines and we shall see if we
come back with any awards.
Our red finally arrived today, it is so exciting and we can't wait to let
the folks who have reserved bottles come collect their wine.
We intended picking our final Seyval grapes today, Paul had checked that
all was in order on Sunday and with the dry weather we looked forward to
an exellent pick only to be spoilt by the birds. We had a severe frost on
Monday morning and all the leaves have dropped off making the grapes
visible and they have been hoovered up. We both went to check sugars and
we had some really high readings as well as some noble rot so things
could really have been interesting, one of the joys of working with
mother nature.
29th October 2005
It seems like the progress page only gets updates every month at the
moment but what a busy month it has been.
Our red wine is now in bottle but the tasting to get its label approved
was cancelled so we are slightly delayed in getting the bottle onto the
shelves. We hope that all will be done by the 2nd week in November.
The picking this month has been excellent, after our Pinot Noir in
September we followed up with almost 2 tonnes of Reichensteiner that
tasted ever so sweet. A little later we took off our Dunkelfelder and
what a laugh that was. Our Pinot cropped almost 1.3 tonnes from 12 rows
and we used 14 pickers. We only grow 400 Dunkelfelder vines and with just
4 rows to pick Paul thought that 7 pickers would be fine. We ended up
with almost 1.1 tonnes so we will have a lot of red next year.
On the 18th of October we took off 3 tonnes of Seyval as the vines seem
to be ripening in stages, it looks as is we will have 3 picks from the
Seyval and almost as much as our entire 2004 harvest from just one vine
variety.
Last Wednesday 26th saw us picking the Auxerrois and another tonne of
Seyval, some of the Auxerrois and Seyval will be used in our first
sparkling wine whilst the rest of the Auxerrois will go into the Estate
Blend. What was interesting was the presence of noble rot on the
Auxerrois, it looks awful but tastes great, some bunches were heading
towards 15% potential alcohol. It would have been lovely to have left
them on a little longer but the leaves are now turning yellow so the
grapes won't get any further help from the plant and could spoil if we
are not careful.
We have one more pick of Seyval to go and we will both be glad to see the
wine in the tanks, our yield is 100% up on 2004, quality is good so we
are looking forward to an excellent 2005 vintage.
Our thanks go to our regular pickers, you know who you are
After a short break we will have to think about 2006, my time flies when
you are having fun.
28th September 2005
We have had a busy few days, on Saturday Paul attended the Devizes Food
and Drink Festival which was a real success, loads of good comments about
our wine.
Today we picked our Pinot Noir with a little help from our friends
(thanks pickers) and we picked 1.275 tonnes with really good sugar levels
and excellent acidity.
We will be picking over the next few weeks and hopefully the weather will
be favourable and kind!
3rd September 2005
We have been to taste our red wine from 2004 to see if it is ready for
bottling and we are very pleased with the results. We anticipate the wine
will go into bottle in about 10 days time and them be ready for release
in early October.
Thoughts turn to harvesting, our main problem is getting enough pickers
and we are running a recruitment drive at the moment.
13th August 2005
No postings for a while as summer holidays get in the way but it has not
been all quiet on the vineyard front. Paul has been replacing more posts
that have failed unexpectedly, a tough task normally but when your
livelihood has fallen over onto the ground you have to take action fast.
Vineyard maintenance has continued, the vines have now been trimmed and
look wonderful, with their new "slimline" profile more light
can get to the grapes and the more air that can flow through the canopy
the less chance of disease and the better chance of riper grapes.
Paul has also been spraying the weeds and spraying the vines to keep
disease at bay. In addition it has been mowing time on the meadow section
of our land to stop thistles and other unwelcome guests from seeding
themselves everywhere.
Lynn has been monitoring the progress of the Mongol Minors who we
sponsored to go across to Ullan Bator, having broken down on the M4 they
are now well inside Russia, we are looking forward to the photo's!
The vineyard has been open to visitors and we have been steadily selling
our wines, Paul hopes that a couple more outlets will now stock it.
In terms of future developments we have put in our plans for the winery
to be built next year and are looking at a vine planting session next May
as well. So 2006 will be busy.
Still with 2005 our red wine is due to be bottled shortly with
availability around October, we are encouraged by the waiting list!
It is amazing to think that we have perhaps 1 or 2 sprays left then it is
count down to harvest, our red grapes are already changing colour so the
excitement is building.
Like anything the show is not over until the fat lady etc... but we are
looking at broadening our range of wines for the 2005 vintage with our
first sparkling wine.
Back to the vineyard....
8th July 2005
Lynn has been very creative and has contacted a local team who are to
compete in the Mongol Rally (see http://www.mongolrally.co.uk/
) and we are sponsoring them and they have agreed to take pictures of our
wines in some of the amazing places between here and Ulaan Bataar. I
think it will be quite a first for English Wine to be that far inside
Asia, more details will follow.
7th July 2005
Paul has been at Plumpton on a wine studies course and has a better idea
about wine production but it is still a long way to go. He was lucky
enough to visit the Ridgeview Estate at Ditchling which has just won the
award for Best Sparkling Wine in the "World Championships" for
drinks. Lynn has also been busy and has completed a course at Salisbury
covering our running of the shop so its education, education and
education.
The vines are finishing flowering and they look really healthy and are
growing at a very marked rate, our next purchase beckons, a vine trimmer
to keep them under control.
27th June 2005
Paul has been helping at the EWOTTY or English and Welsh Wine of the year
competition, it was amazing to see over 200 wines being entered, Paul
thought that it was the largest competition ever. It was also a great
learning curve watching and speaking with the judges who were very
complimentary on the whole about the standard of the wines. Even better
for us was the award of a Highly Commended for our 2004 Estate Blend.
12th June 2005
The spray program is now in full swing, we hope that any early signs of
mildew have been nipped in the bud (apologies for the bad pun). As ever
mother nature grows and we need to mow mow mow and by the time that is
done it will be time to spray again.
Wine sales go well, comments are especially favourable about our 2004
Seyval, this style of wine may become a regular feature for us based on
customer comments.
7th June 2005
Summer arrived today but for how long? It also meant that Paul could get
the weed spraying done as the wind finally stopped blowing. Lynn has been
organising visits to the site, after the local school came the unhappy
parents who want to go to the vineyard to try the produce and not look
for flowers and bugs.
We are currently looking for a vine trimmer which looks like the nastiest
bit of kit know to man, 5 or 6 vertical blades that could do some real
damage, Paul is not looking forward to the task.
4th June 2005
With the run up to English Wine Week things have been busy, Paul had to
go and taste 33 wines at the Quality and Regional Wine tastings in
London, good experience and one or two were quite excellent.
The weather has been rather challenging, its warm enough but rather too
wet and windy so we are behind on spraying and weed control. Last evening
Paul managed to get the first fungicide spray completed and it reminded
Paul how boring spraying is.
Our wines sales have commenced and are going well, we have wine at
outlets in Devizes (Edwin Giddings and The Healthy Life Bistro) and
Pewsey (Thomsons) and are actively looking for more outlets.
Ove the next few weeks we will settle into the usual vineyard routine and
come flowering at the end of June we should be all neat and tidy
17th May 2005
With the wine now available for sale we have opened again for sales, this
year we are going to be open on Friday and Saturday 10.30am to 3pm or so.
To help people track us down we have a small sign that we hope won't be
missed.
English Wine week is going to start this month (28th May) and we are
hoping that many more people will discover English Wine.
Paul has been perplexed by the activities of frost, when it's below
freezing we light the fires and all seems well but when it stays above
freezing we get some leaf burn. Then it gets complicated, we are on a
slope, logically you would expect the vines at the bottom to get hit, but
its actually the vines 3/4 of the way down the hill and also that the
distribution of frost is v odd. Our vines are trained into a T shape with
the ends bent down so it looks like the golden arches i.e. a big M but
the lower ones escape and the higher ones get hit on some and then vice
versa on others. I confuses the hell out of me, still on the upside it is
just a little leaf browning and not total wipe out.
8th May 2005
With high pressure building over the UK the chance for frost increases,
Paul has been spending some sleepless nights watching the thermometer.
All being well we will be starting to sell the wine again later this
week.
2nd May 2005
With all the vines now tied in, the posts replaced and the training wires
being lowered we are very happy with the condition of the vineyard. Our
labels for the bottles have been printed and they should be labelled and
capsuled this week so we can open again for business.
English Wine Week is coming, this is our industry's annual promotion
session with the slogan "Think English Drink English" so llok
out for details on special events at a vineyard near you.
The bank holiday weather was fantasic, it gave the vines a real boost,
the Pinot Noir and Reichensteiner have gone off like a rat out of the
trap, the rest are getting there, if a new more days a subtle hue of
green will be seen across the site as the leaves get a little larger.
Watching for frost now is most important.
26th April 2005
Paul has just got back from London where he attended the Annual English
Wine tasting event, it was amazing to see the wide range of English Wines
on show. He tasted amazing sparkling wines, red wines that would make
many a burgundian weep, a chardonnay that would make an aussie cry and
some sweet wines that were just something else.
Anyway enough of Paul waxing lyrical we also had our wines there and they
were well received and it may lead to additional busines but overall Paul
rated it as a great day.
22nd April 2005
We have been advised that our wines have passed their tasting and can now
be called English Regional Wine. As a result we have now ordered the
labels and within 2 weeks we should have the wine ready for sale.
The vines are being tied in and Paul has been replacing some of our posts
that have failed so the site is looking much more orderly. Our weed
spraying is taking effect and in a few days we can move the vines and
mulch up the cuttings or as the french would say "broyer le
bois", it sound smore exciting than it is but Paul will spend a
number of hours in the tractor going very slowly reducing piles of
cuttings to pulp.
19th April 2005
Finally the pruning is finished, some rows will need tying in but we can
now move to other tasks, we both feel it is a weight off our minds. On
the 20th of this month is the Quality and Regional Wine tasting and we
are keen to get positive results so we can label the bottles and start
selling.
We have had very positive feedback from trade customers about our wines,
Paul has been taking samples around to shops and restaurants so we don't
have to rely on just sales at the vineyard.
15th April 2005
Burning the midnight oil is a new hobby for Paul as the temperature falls
to close to freezing. The question is do we need the frost fires tonight,
only time will tell.
Paul has now been voted Chairman of the Wessex Vineyards Association and
will be taking Wessex wines to the annual English Wine tastings at The
Great Eastern Hotel on April 26th. Here Paul will meet the great and the
good of the wine world, it should be quite a laugh for him.
12th April 2005
With Easter coming early with have been slightly deflected in our aim of
finishing up pruning but we are only 5 rows away from the end. Paul has
been focusing on applying fertilizer and spraying out the weeds, Lynn has
been pruning and both of our hands could do with a little
"Nivea" to say the least.
Hopefully the second weed spray will happen this week and we can then
look forward to a relatively weed free vineyard.
Our wines go to the Quality Wine Tasting on the 18th and then we can
label and begin selling again. The wines are settling nicely in the
bottle and we have had favourable comments from those "willing
tasters".
Finally the vineyard season has begun with our Reichensteiner bursting
its buds yesterday a full 11 days earlier than last year so watching the
weather is everything at the moment.
18th March 2005
A few days of variety, pruning continues to gather pace as does mother
nature, the vines are coming to life ad if the weather stays warm we will
have our work cut out.
Our 2004 white wine is now in bottle and we are just awaiting for the
egional Wine Tasting panel on the 21st March to give us the ok that we
pass the standards so we can get labels sorted and we can then have
bottles capsuled and labelled.
We have been in the paper again, what's worse is the full page picture of
Paul, he really does look less than handsome!
Also we have been approached on a couple of fronts for some exciting work
that will promote us to a far wider audience but more of that at another
time.
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