October 2025
It is never over until the fat lady sings. Well she has uttered the last note of her aria
Hard to believe but by end of 5th October we are all picked, the grapes pressed and the juice sitting in barrel fermenting spontaneously in this lovely warm weather. There is a slightly flat feeling of not knowing quite what to do with oneself after such an intense month pre-harvest. I cannot quite face cleaning down all the equipment, washing out the picking crates, and rolling up all the bird netting we did not the end need. Just enjoying the afterglow of such a successful harvest with a more than a satisfied wine maker with superb juice at his disposal.
The final tally was close on 4.5 tonnes of grapes, split evenly between the pinot noir and the chardonnay. All in wonderful condition with just the right amounts of sugars and acids. There was spontaneous fermentation as expected with just wild yeasts.
Picking crates at the ready for our harvest team
Our ripest parcel of pinot noir picked for special maceration and pressing into the red wine destined for the Brut Rosé 2025
What an amazing summer we have experienced. Hot weather from mid May through to mid August. No spring frost for us, good and speedy budding, no deer chomping (new deer fence and Olympic-sized cattle grid), nigh perfect flowering, good veraison, no fruit flies. Rather stormy weather from mid Aug to early September but hey. It does not get much better than this. I fall to my knees on the vineyard floor in gratefulness to Mother Nature and say “Hallelujah".
