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Gary and the Frost Killer |
Our latest piece of armoury in the war against Jack Frost is now ready for action!
Gary has converted and old corn dryer machine so that it continually sucks in huge amounts of cold air at ground level and shots it skywards. This will hopefully create enough air movement in the lowest part of the vineyard to fight off the worst of potential frosts.
The Frost Killer will be...
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Double Guyot pruning
The main task in the vineyard during winter is pruning which has to be done by hand. We now have 21,000 vines to prune but fortunately Alex loves the job. Since December she has been sniping away with the help of her partner Cliff and some casual workers. I'm feeling very guilty as I've been in Australia for the last 6 weeks on a combined holiday and work trip.
Pruning this year...
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In research commissioned by German wine trade fair Prowein, significant minorities of wine drinkers in the US, China, Germany and the UK said their ideal wine would have less than 12% alcohol.
In Britain, 22% said their ideal wine was 10.5% or less, with similar numbers in Germany and the US saying the same. The preference for lower alcohol is most marked in the younger generation. In Britain, 27%...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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