Everyone likes a good news story! Well, you’re not going to get one. This year has been one of the toughest harvests in Europe in 100 years and it’s not been much better in England. Yields are down and while the Pinots have done very well, the Chardonnay has suffered throughout the country.
As you know, we set very high standards for our fruit – we want only the best as we only want to produce the best wine: quality over volume. I’ve often said that if the grapes don’t make the grade in any year, we simply won’t use them. This year, although we harvested a lot of Chardonnay from Enborne and my beloved Church Block, we have rejected it all. If we were a volume player it might be different but we are not and we intend to stick firmly to our philosophy of only producing the best. Thousands and thousands of wasted hours, including cold nights protecting against frost, and thousands and thousands of pounds wasted but better than disappointing you with a product not up to our standard and risking the reputation we have built with your help and trust.
Why?
Weather: cold and not sunny during fruit set, little sun during the year and by the end of harvest almost 1.2m of rain.
What does that mean?
I won’t have the full picture for a while apart from the obvious small production (as we never use anyone else’s grapes) but it may be that we make our first ever Blanc des Noirs (sparking white from red grapes) as the Pinots are excellent and we may make a Classic Cuvée or Blanc des Blancs from the grapes in Holtwood where the Chardonnay was up to scratch but we won’t know for a while on that.
We are, however, after much demand, going to make another Sparkling Red - watch this space!!
What next?
There is still work to be done in the vineyard, getting it ready and putting it to bed for three months, weeding and possibly putting down a herbal lay between the rows to add nutrients to the soil. Analyse the effects of some of the initiatives we tried, such as applying calcifert, worm tea etc. And we need to service, repair and, where necessary, replace equipment.
Don't worry, our current releases are still available - head over to our shop to purchase ->