The latest juice from the vineyard!
We’ve just finished harvesting our 2021 vintage, but that doesn’t mean it’s all quiet in the vineyard. In fact, we’re heading into one of our busiest times; there are over 120,000 vines to hand prune before budburst in spring, and Will, John, Matt and Buzz are hard at work already with around 30,000 vines pruned already.
Pruning is a skilled job; the work done now sets the vine up for the coming season and greatly influences the quantity (crop load) and quality. We aim to limit the crop load because lower yields tend to result in higher quality wines. We’re also training the vine along the wires so the canopy is more open and easier to manage, meaning we can avoid grapes being affected by moulds (they don’t make for delicious wines). If the work is poorly done in extreme cases, it can cause grapevine trunk disease, eventually killing the vine.
Strange to think that before we’ve even finished making our 2021 wine (more to come on that next month), we’re already starting work on the 2022 vintage. So as you sit back tonight, in front of your toasty warm fire, perhaps sipping on one of our lovely Pinot Noirs, spare a thought for Andrew and his team, who’ve started work already on the wine you’ll be drinking in 2023.
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