Autumn may well and truly be upon us now: the horrors of
Halloween are past and the final squib of Bonfire Night has squeaked its
last. Before all that, though, Surrey’s
vineyards were enjoying what may well be remembered as an almost perfect year.
What made it so good? It’s all about the weather. You might
recall that we had an early and warm Spring this year, which coaxed the vines
into budburst and there were no late snap frosts to damage this early growth. We
did have quite a lot of rain too, but it came at about the right time to
provide water during vine development. The early Summer was warm and sunny and,
despite August being rather grey and cool, the sun came out again in the
critical ripening period of September into October.
To quote Nick Wenman of
Albury Vineyard “If you can’t make good wine this year, you never will.”
Chris White, General Manager at Denbies, Surrey’s best known
vineyard and the largest single site vineyard in the country, has even been
quoted as talking of 2014 as “one in a century”. I think that kind of speculative
hyperbole is best left to the Bordelais, who seem to announce the “vintage of
the century” about once a decade.
John Worontschak, Chief Winemaker at Litmus Wines, who
actually make the wine at Denbies does, however, confirm that they have
harvested a “massive crop”, their biggest ever, of high quality fruit. In fact,
as I write, the harvest is not quite finished, as some botrytis-affected
(that’s the right kind of rot) grapes will be picked next week to make a late
harvest dessert wine. They will also be making some still red from Pinot Noir,
the only noble black variety which tends to perform well in the UK – when
conditions are right.
The picture is broadly similar across England, with many
vineyards reporting record harvests of, crucially, ripe and healthy grapes. In
our marginal climate, achieving full ripeness is rarely possible – hence our
success with sparkling wines, which require lowish alcohol and high acid
grapes. This year, however, could mark a new high point for still wines of all
colours.
Mike Wagstaff, co-owner of Greyfriars Vineyard on the Hog’s
Back southeast of Guildford, reports a harvest of over 90 tonnes, getting on
for double last year’s total. This kind of increase is driven primarily by the
nearly 45,000 new vines planted since Mike and his business partner took over
ownership of the vineyard in 2010. As well as the volume of grapes picked, he’s
particularly pleased to see much higher levels of ripeness than in 2013 and
good grape health – ie little in the way of the various sorts of rot which can
bedevil English growers.
From this year’s harvest, Greyfriars will be making a range
of sparkling wines: rosé from Pinot Noir and a classic cuvée blend. There may
also be some still wines, which we can look forward to tasting next year.
Nick Wenman at Albury Vineyard has the additional challenge
of using organic methods, which limit, for example, the treatments available to
treat vines against rot. Professional pickers were busy completing the harvest
in the sunshine when I visited on 22nd October and the quality of
the bunches looked good. Nick will be producing organic Silent Pool still rosé
and a range of organic sparkling wines: a classic cuvée blend, a rosé and a
blanc de blancs made from Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc.
But Nick is nothing if not adventurous and curious wine
drinkers may get the chance to taste a biodynamic “Petillant naturel” wine from
Albury next year. This style of wine, called “pet nat” for short, is made by
allowing fermentation to start naturally and bottling the wine before it
finishes. In theory the continuing fermentation will result in the production
of carbon dioxide, which will dissolve in the wine as it cannot escape, thereby
making the wine lightly sparkling. This is far from an exact science, however.
Too much carbon dioxide and the bottles can explode; too little and the wine
can be disappointingly flat.
The harvest at probably Surrey’s smallest commercial
vineyard, High Clandon, is a blink and you’ll miss it affair. This year it
began on the morning of 9th October and was all over by lunchtime.
Bruce and Sibylla Tindale tend this tiny 1-acre vineyard with loving care and
attention and this year harvested a total of 3.6 tonnes of grapes, which should
produce around 2,600 bottles of sparkling wine. Patience is required for would
be drinkers of the wine though – it won’t be available until sometime in 2019.
Contact details:
Denbies is a visitor-friendly vineyard, with tours and
tastings running every day, plus a restaurant and shop. http://www.denbies.co.uk/
The other vineyards mentioned are open by appointment only:
Greyfriars vineyard: http://www.greyfriarsvineyard.co.uk/
Albury vineyard: http://www.alburyvineyard.com/
High Clandon: http://www.highclandon.co.uk/
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