Veraison

Let’s talk about the weather!

What a scorcher this summer has been  – it has felt more like the South of France than England! Finally some much needed rain fell on the 11^th and 15^th August, a total of 59ml for the months of July and August according to our resident rain gauge. Apparently, it has been  the driest year for over a century and the young vines are stressed as their shallow root system is not yet drought proof. The mature vines are coping better and still looking a vibrant green against the scorched grass. Although a few varieties have suffered some minor sun burn to the berries on the Western side of the canopy, a rare problem in our normally ‘cool and damp’ climate. The scorched berries will shrivel and become raisin like, eventually falling off. However we have delayed leaf stripping on the West side of the canopy to prevent further damage (hot weather continues this week and into the bank holiday weekend) until temperatures drop to more moderate levels.

This week we will be doing our second yield estimates. Bunch closure, when the berries swell and start to touch each other, is well under way, although without the rain, there has been less of a swell and berries are looking small which could lead to lighter bunches and therefore a lower yield. Veraison, when the hard green berries start to soften and change colour, started in the early ripening Pinot Noir Precoce at the end of July, suggesting an early start to the 2022 harvest. This is usually the first variety we pick for our Pinot Rosé – some of the fruit will be netted and left to ripen further for our Atcombe Red blend. 

A little more rain in August to help swell the berries and an Indian summer is on the wish list. Look out for our harvest sweep stake – coming soon in our September Newsletter. 

It’s August and it’s hot!

August is the month of preparing for the upcoming harvest. While it’s still early to get an accurate yield estimation, I can still begin to order in the various items that we will need. At the end of the month, we’ll begin the deep clean of all tanks and also do the annual maintenance check and cleaning of all equipment, in particular the press and everything else that is only used for 2 months of the year during harvest. The fruit quality this year has the potential to be excellent so crossed fingers for some rain over the next month then more dry sunny days for the 6-8 weeks of harvest.

This month has been taken up with the usual operations of the summer, which is of course the disgorging of the sparkling wines and, due the high demand that the summer brings for sparkling wine, a lot of labelling!!

We’ve also just released our 2020 Atcombe Red – watch Fiona & Jeremy introducing it here