The European logo for Organic Wine
The European Commission has voted to implement standards for the production and labelling of organic wine.
Up until now there has been no approved process for the production of organic wine and therefore it has only been possible to label wine as "produced from organic grapes". These new regulations will allow wine to be certified as organic which for the first...
Read more
Harmonia axydris (Japenese Ladybug)
An interesting and somewhat worrying presentation at the ICCS yesterday by Kevin Ker from Brook University, Canada.
Ladybirds are often regarded as beneficial insects that feed on harmful pests like aphids. However some non-native ladybirds like the Harmonia axydris (known as the Japenese Ladybug) are increasingly being found in vineyards in North America, Canada...
Read more
This years International Cool Climate Symposium for viticulture and oenology is being held in Hobart, Tasmania. I'm lucky enough to be attending which I've coincided with a family holiday in Australia.
Jancis Robinson opened the conference with a keynote speech titled "What's hot about cool climate", which was an illuminating tour of potential new regions in the world for an expanding market for...
Read more
Alex with Peter Hayes on the vineyard
Earlier this month we were very fortunate to have international wine expert, Peter Hayes, visit the vineyard as part of the Wineskills programme.
One of the topics we discussed was the need to understand Bud Fruitfulnessand how it might impact on the level of pruning in the winter. Fruitfulness is the weight of fruit produced by each bud...
Read more
Family and friends at the vineyard
Family and friends gathered on Sunday to pick the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier which will be used to make a still
rosé wine. After a day of picking the Chardonnay and Seyval on Friday, we had a better idea of how long the process would take so we drafted in a few more friends to help out. Overall 22 enthusiastic pickers had arrived by 9.30am.
The day went pretty...
Read more
Alex with some of the Chardonnay
Our very first harvest took place yesterday when we picked the Chardonnay and Seyval grapes from the 5 acres of we planted in May 2009.
The yield was much smaller than we had hoped for, mainly because of the poor pollination and fruit set at the end of June, but also because the pheasant decided that they would dine out on the Seyval during the last two weeks. The...
Read more
Ulrich Hoffman, winemaker, in his lab
It is essential to pick grapes at the right level of ripeness and, whilst this can be judged on appearance alone, most growers monitor berry sugar and acid levels. As the grapes ripen the the sugars increase and the acidity declines. The desired level of ripeness will depend on the style of wine you want to make. In cool climates like the UK acidity levels tend...
Read more
I now feel like a proper farmer as I'm always complaining about the weather!
This year it has been pretty awful for growing grapes. The wind and rain at the end of June/early July resulted in poor fruit set, and we have had little sun since then to ripen the grapes. In July we had 12% less sunshine compared to the average of 1971-2000 and in August 20% less. Temperatures were also much lower and...
Read more
Richard Smart at Denbies
Dr Richard Smart is an Australian viticulturist and a leading expert in canopy management. He is often referred to as "
the flying vine doctor". See
www.smartvit.com.auRecently Richard visited our vineyard and also gave a Masterclass seminar at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. The subject of his talk was "
Practical Applications of Canopy Management" and covered optimum vigor,...
Read more
Powdery Mildew on Pinot Noir
Unfortunately we now have Powdery Mildew on the some of the Pinot Noir and a few of the Chardonnay grapes. It's quite isolated at the moment and interestingly is mainly in the rows where the FrostGuard machine was sited which prevented proper spraying earlier in the year.
Powdery Mildew is caused by the fungus Erisiphe necator. It only infects green parts of the vine and...
Read more
The 3rd bunch gets the chop!
Vines will often produce more fruit than the trunk and root system can support, which can stress the vine and also result in the bunches not ripening properly. This isn't a big problem for us this year, as many of the berries didn't pollinate properly which has resulted in small and incomplete bunches (see earlier post - Coulour and Millerandage).
Non the less Alex has...
Read more
Veraison - Pinot Noir
The Pinot Noir grapes are starting to change colour from green to red. This is the start of the ripening process and in viticulture is called
veraison.
Grape berries have two distinct growth phases. The initial phase is when the cells divide and expand and the grapes begin to swell and fill out the bunch. After veraison the acidity decreases due to degradation of Malic acid,...
Read more
