The Storm before the Calm

2023 has been a challenging year in the vineyard and the challenging conditions continue. As I write,  the skies are grey, the winds are gusting and rain is imminent - more of the same is expected for the rest of the week and into the weekend. The mini heat wave at the beginning of September was a great boost to ripening and we now just need to weather this mid September stormy weather before harvest gets fully underway. The long term forecast is predicting more settled conditions but there are no guarantees at this time of the year.....English harvests are autumnal and inevitably that brings with it changeable weather and rainy days. With a few Woodchester harvests under our belt, we are used to making last minute decisions on picking days and flexibility at this time of the year is critical. The fruit is looking clean  and the wind will help dry the bunches reducing the risk of botrytis (grey mould) setting in. We don't want to rush the fruit off the vine before it is ready and looking back at 2021, harvest started on the 26th September and produced the Global Masters award winning Sauvignon Blanc... 

In the meantime, there is plenty of mowing and strimming to be done in the vineyards as the warm and rainy conditions have given a new life to the grass and weeds....and more netting as the wildlife are beginning to enjoy a pre-harvest sample of our earlier ripening varieities where we have not yet deployed the nets. 

If you haven't yet entered our Harvest sweep stake, click here and have a chance to win a Taste of the Cotswolds Collection or join us for our Harvest Festival on Sunday 8th October 2023 to enjoy a snippet of our harvest 2023. 

Cheers.

With harvest rapidly approaching the winery is now completely sanitised and ready for the incoming fruit. The pre harvest checks are all being completed and its now down to the varieties of grapes to start developing their flavours and aromatic compounds. We are beginning to monitor the increase in sugars and decrease in acidity such as the Pinot Précoce and Bacchus which are historically picked earlier. The picking days are not just judged by the target sugar and acidity levels but also, importantly, the flavour of the juice. Unfortunately  we can’t pick in the rain as this can affect the flavour concentration within the berry.

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce Martin who will be my Winery assistant this year.. He’s done a few harvests including; Ridgeview in Sussex and several harvests in Australia and Tasmania so I’m sure he’ll be very able to cope with the extremely busy, enjoyable and interesting time we have here during the harvest at Woodchester. Anyone that might be coming on a tour over the next
couple of months will probably see him in the press area or winery.

So, we’re all set and ready now for a high quality, good yielding harvest. Bring it on!