An occasional diary of our vineyard year

Budding

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:06:02 +0000

Budburst in the first half of Aprll for the second year running? It usually coincides with the full glory of the blackthorn flower in the vineyard hedge and the first flowers are out so it’s not going to be long. Not far behind last year, when we had a record, for us, early bud-break on Apr 12th. Early budding is not usually good thing because spring frosts can nip off the buds and shoots once they are soft, which can wipe out the crop. The sooner they bud, the more likely they’ll catch a frost. On the other hand if there aren’t any frosts then they’re off to a flying start. Always a tense time. Not a job for the risk-averse, vinegrowing.

The budding cane above is a Kernling vine at the top in the block Iain prunes. As you can see soft-focus in the background they are all done and tidy, with the bundles of prunings tied and waiting to be taken off. Then all the Kernling needs tying down. The top Madeleine block is also pruned though we have yet to unwind the cordons, raise the wires as planned and tie in the new shoots. And most of the bottom Madeleine, though pre-pruned, is yet to be done. So all in all, it’s looking fairly comfortable, though the early predicted budburst means we need to get our skates on tying down.

Iain is packing up the 2011s to send off for their quality testing as I write. We tasted them - Jane’s and Leonora’s - again yesterday in the garden with Kelli, and they must have been OK because we kept going back for just a little bit more through the afternoon till suddenly and surprisingly the bottles were empty...

To the SW Vineyards Association AGM last Wednesday, at Vigo Ltd, vineyard suppliers, up on the Blackdown Hills near the lovely village of Dunkeswell. A pretty, blossom-filled drive in the sunshine, and good to catch up with colleagues old and new. More debate about the new EU quality scheme regs, a demo of some very fancy winery temperature-control equipment and software (“control your fermentations from Chicago”) and some nice examples of producers’ wines to taste. Seems like 2011s are going to be a good crop of wines in the SW, if a small one.

2011s Home

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:57:35 +0000

A big moment. The newly-bottled 2011s home from the winery this morning. As usual the lane was a tight fit for the pallet lorry - our place was built in the days when the scale was smaller. This year a reassuringly stable, state-of-the-art tail lift. No nervy moments. Except for Hasty the thoroughbred mare, on her own in the next yard, spooked by the activity.

Did our usual ceremonial bottle-from-the-stillage welcome toast. This year Leonora’s. Good colour, touch darker than the last couple of years, more pale straw than silver lime. Smells nice - Cheers!

How does it taste? Well, the trademark Kernling long, creamy finish but with the steeliness softened by a touch of tropical-fruit from the late-harvested Madeleine in with it. Whooo, promising! Looking forward to tasting the barrel-matured version. The light oakiness should go well. But not yet - too precious. And the Jane’s, but only 1000-ish bottles of that so we’ll be eking that out as well. The stillages are all rugged up in the barn now, waiting for space in the wine store. Next step, sending off a couple bottles of each for post-bottling analyses and quality status verdicts.

Always several years at once in your mind as a vigneron. Earlier in the week it was the 2010s, now our main releases, being packed off for their shot at the International Wine Challenge and the Decanter World Wine Awards, the world’s two biggest wine competitions, here they are below, lined up ready for packing. Results at the London International Wine Fair in mid-May. We’ll be thinking of them...

Then the 2009 - the IWC silver-medal Leonora’s. Still got a small stack of it. We decided to get new labels for it to match up the rather smarter-dressed 2010. Pic at the bottom left of the Shop page.

And the 2012 vintage is on its way. Kernling pruning 70% done and tying down started, though the canes are still a bit stiff for it. Following up the Madeleine pre-pruning, about 10% of a rather painstaking full prune done so far, cutting out lots of old wood to make up for several years of deliberately-delayed, sometimes-hasty blitz-pruning. And leaving an extra bud on half the shoots to help make up for the expected low flower-truss count (see previous post) - the higher-up buds are usually more fruitful. Below right: a Madeleine vine with the wire raised 15cm, new cordons laid down and a water-shoot being trained up from the base to form a new trunk next year. Newly-manured, to help it build up its strength again.

Another early spring?

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:11:50 +0000

The weather’s springlike, the vineyard is ringing with birdsong and the vines are waking up. Iain just finished pre-pruning the Madeleine Angevine and they’re dripping all over the place. Won’t do them any harm - in fact it’s good because it helps flush out any fungal spores that might start trunk disease. That means I can get going, following up with the secateurs. We’ve been waiting for the sap to start.

Meanwhile we’re making steady progress with the Kernling pruning - 40% done and all the cuts near the crowns painted with acrylic paint, another protection against trunk diseases.

We’re predicting a smaller-than-usual number of bunches on the canes this year because of last year’s cold July when the buds were being laid down. Can’t fully predict the yield yet, because this year’s spring and flowering temperatures will affect the size of the crop too. Flowering usually starts here around Wimbledon finals time. Thinking of leaving a few more buds on than usual to compensate - can always thin the shoots later if the crop turns out heavier.

Friday we’re going to Steve’s winery to take up our stillages ready for bottling, taste the finished 2011 wines and take final pre-bottling decisions. Always exciting.

Oh and not forgetting our new release. Very limited edition barrel-matured 2010 Madeleine Angevine now up for grabs. Just one barrel, 250 bottles, each one is hand-numbered. The new label is March pic-of-the-month on our Home Page. The wine’s fully-dry, 100% Madeleine Angevine, that spent 6 weeks in our hand-made, light-toast, French oak barrel. We’re pleased with it. The label is a departure - the script was created for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is based on the handwriting of Paul Cezanne. We used it on our fizz label three years back, then just for the text, “Extra Brut”.

Pruning in full swing

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:01:35 +0000

This year we’re not late-pruning the Madeleine. We have done it for the last few years as a frost-precaution. And then last year we actually had a spring frost, just in the bottom corner. As we hoped, the growth from the buds that were still dormant after the late pruning gave us a late crop we wouldn’t otherwise have had.

But it also turned out to be troublesome because the later grapes were all mixed in with the early ones, and by harvest they were hard to distinguish from each other. Overall we probably lost as much by conservative selective picking at the main harvest as we eventually gained in the late harvest. So this year we’re giving up that tactic. We’re pruning at the normal time and taking the chance of a frost after budding.

Iain’s pre-pruning the Madeleine now - it’s three quarters done. Kelli, on her occasional days helping in the vineyard, has been trimming off the bits left clinging to the wires (movie clip, right). Kelli and Matthew heroically bashed in the last 13 replacement posts in the bottom Madeleine block today. I’m bringing up the rear, raising the wires by 6 inches to make the vines slightly safer from frost, easier to work and maybe a touch later to ripen, which would be good. But raising wires with permanent cordons twisted on to them is quite a long and ticklish job, so I may be some time.

To Marylebone’s stylish Landmark Hotel yesterday for Decanter magazine’s Spanish Fine Wine Encounter. Lots of fun tasting some amazingly fresh and zingy whites first. Good to see Sarah Jane Evans MW again - we met at Artisan & Vine in November - she was leading tastings in the main hall. But the highlight was a separate tutored tasting led by organic producer Alvaro Palacios who started his winemaking career at starry Chateau Petrus. An article about Alvaro’s wines is here>> on the Rare Wine Co’s website.

Each wine was more bright, fresh and alive than the last. We ranged through the family’s longstanding Rioja vineyards, their new acquisitions in Bierzo, NW Spain near Galicia, to the special, steep, slate vineyards in Priorat: Gratallops, Finca Dofi (which Alvaro is talking about in the photo below) and finishing with the wonderful l’Ermita - the 2005. L’Ermita wines made from grapes from the classic, old vines, hand-de-stemmed, of this tiny, 1.5 hectare jewel of the Priorat slopes.

Alvaro said he aimed for quality by localising the product - making separate wines from single vineyards - and by using the old varieties, mainly Garnacha. He believes the original grapes of the region give a fresher wine than recent modernising plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. “Ask the old people, because it was like this.”

After this the reds in the tasting room seemed perhaps just a little anticlimactic. But we managed to try a few ....

Bermondsey, Bankside and Basingstoke

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 22:05:24 +0000

Busy week. Monday to Bermondsey for the UKVA’s Annual General Conference, this year at the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) HQ in Bermondsey St, near London Bridge.

Furore of the Month, the reviled-by-some new EU rules on the English Quality Wine scheme, got a good airing. For us it means calling our wines English Wine PDO, instead of English Quality Wine PDO. If wine hasn’t passed the quality tests, it can’t any longer be called English Wine - just “Produce of UK”. This isn’t popular with producers that don’t enter the quality scheme, but isn’t a problem for us so we’ve just enjoyed the storm from the sidelines. Andrew Atkinson of Wineskills demo-ed the new Wineskills website, including sustainability guidance, online library and downloadable sustainability workbook for us all to try out and make suggestions. Click HERE to see them all.

Then it was over the road for a congenial lunch at stylish Delfina. On the tables were wine bottles unopened from UKVA competitions (you have to send a spare in case of cork taint), and guess what was on ours? A now rare bottle of Oatley Jane’s 2009 with its Decanter World Wine Awards bronze sticker. Seemed to hold up to the occasion pretty well. Also enjoyed tasting a Sauvignon Blanc/Bacchus blend from Worcestershire’s Astley Vineyard.

Walked past the nearly-finished Shard in the winter sunshine. Time for some rubbernecking around the Golden Hind at neighbouring Bankside before zooming home aboard the 18.03 Paddington to Penzance.

Tuesday morning off again, 2 hours up the A303 to a Wineskills course at Hattingley Valley Wines - a spanking-new, big, purpose-built winery just south of Basingstoke. In the room with the trlangular windows we learned about traceability, HACCP and QA schemes. A dry subject, brought to life well by Wineskills still-wine-production guru David Cowderoy, with the help of quality-management-specialist-with- a -vineyard-on-the-side John Rowe. Did you know that if you make and sell wines you have by law to have “partial traceability” records
(provenance of inputs and destination of outputs)? You also by law need a HACCP, even if your wine is, like ours, made under contract, covering potential hazards to consumers from vineyard operations and storage, packing and selling. Well, now we know, we’ll be doing it, and aiming for full traceability, mapping all the inputs through the process to the outputs. So it’s time for a burst of Excel spreadsheets and a trip to the pesticide store to record the lot numbers....

While I was learning all this, back home Kelli of The Wine Tasting Company was helping in the vineyard and persuaded Iain to do a little series of video demos of spur-pruning and replacement-cane pruning for her website. You can see them HERE. View them in the reverse order from how they appear for the most logical sequence.

Meanwhile pruning-in-earnest has stopped in favour of warmer trellis work while the vineyard is frostbound.

Kernling for the barrel this year

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:31 +0000

Writing this sitting in front of the fire, re-tasting from the two bottles that winemaker Steve was pouring from (right) this morning. As usual we brought the rest of the tank samples home to taste at leisure, convincing ourselves we made the right decisions. Feeling happy. All is well.

Both the wines are fully-dry, the way we like them. As usual the Madeleine Angevine is intense and upfront, with a fresh acidity as a result of picking just before full ripeness. Regular readers will remember that the Kernling was vinified with some post-frost Madeleine that was picked alongside it in October, not having been ready when the rest of the Mad. was picked in mid-September. The Mad is about 15% of the total. Tropical flavours from those, late, fully-ripe grapes, are broadening the slightly austere early palate of the Kernling. Plenty of body. Creamy finish. Will take a while to come together but we’re really hopeful this will turn out to be special. Only just started on the 2010 Kernling stack, so no pressure, it can take the time it needs in the cellar.

Our 1-year-old barrel, handmade-by Wadworth’s master cooper, is sitting soaking, over the winery’s central drain, gently expanding so the joints get tight again. Steve told us half of its first water-fill had leaked, but no worries, it’s nearly watertight again now.

So what to put in it? There’s much more of the mainly-Kernling than the pure Madeleine, so it was an easy decision. 225 litres of that will be drawn out of the tank to get a spell in the French oak. Last year it was Madeleine. No need to agonize over blending decisions because the wine is already mixed. We’ll give it a month and see how it’s going.

Today’s other excitement was picking up our new robot rechargeable mower from Mole Valley Farmers. We hope it’ll beetle around in the summer, keeping the house lawns and front-of-house area tidy and being more sustainable than the petrol ride-on. A man is coming to lay its guidance cables on Friday. At the moment Iain is reading the alarmingly-thick instruction book and it’s having its first charge over on the other side of the sofa. You have to push buttons - it’s got different programmes for different types of lawn. Will le patron resist the temptation to try it out on the rugs...?

HARLEQUIN ALERT!

Sun, 8 Jan 2012 17:42:27 +0000

We found these when we took down the tasting tent ahead of last week’s gales. There they were, snuggled into a cosy corner of the plastic cover. Their size - definitely bigger than normal ones, and that telltale inverted black-on-white MacDonald’s M near their heads rang an alarm bell, and we rushed to http://www.harlequin-survey.org/ to find out more. Yep, harlequin ladybirds they definitely were. They have been spreading out from the SE and reached here in 2010 but these are the first we’ve seen.

On the right are their ID pics from the survey website. Looks like most of ours are Harlequin axyridis succinea - the orangey one with lots of spots, but three are axyridis spectabilis, the black ones with 4 big red spots. We’ll be printing off the ID guide and keeping a close watch for the larvae and pupae on the vines in the spring. Not a welcome visitor. We did send off our pic to the survey.

The winter is still as mild as mild. I took these pics on the right on my phone while walking Milo tonight. Not only are there snowdrops in the hedges of Knoll Green Lane but odd primroses and I passed a patch of what I think is cow parsley in flower as well.

No frost yet but the leaves have blown off the vines and we’re pruning. Four of the bottom Kernling rows are done and Kelli came and did K5 at the top on Wednesday.

Trunk diseases seem to be getting established in UK vineyards, caused mainly by fungi that get into pruning cuts. Not such a problem with old vines, and ours are pretty healthy. But we’re taking extra precautions: checking carefully for disease when we cut the older wood - shows up as discoloured sectors in a cross-section - and cutting back if we find any, to 10 cm beyond any symptoms. We’re chopping all the older cut wood into lengths, straight into a wheelbarrow and off to the woodshed for the house fire. We’re still mulching in the clean, new canes though, to return as much as possible to the soil. And we’re painting the pruning cuts with acrylic paint. You can use special fungicide preparations but we learned at one of the Wineskills seminars from Dr Eileen Scott of U Adelaide that acrylic paint gave good results for them. Paint testers with the little brush in the top work well. Ours are from Wickes - moisture resistant bathroom paint. We thought we’d colour code by year. For 2012 it’s an inconspicuous Driftwood. Well, it’s inconspicuous till it gets on your clothes...

Postbashing ALREADY

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:36:34 +0000

Now the trellis is a quarter of a century old winter repairs are a fact of life. More broken posts than usual this year in the Madeleine: 40, compared with 20 last year. Some of the failed ones are only 4 years old, from the batch we put in in our big pneumatically powered, re-posting exercise in 2007>> when we did 300 in a juddering five days. These days post-makers aren’t allowed to use such strong preservatives and modern treated larch posts just haven’t got that 20 year working life our originals did. Most new vineyards use metal posts now. Considered more sustainable because longer-lasting and in the end recyclable, though they don’t look so great. Maybe one day we’ll have to consider it though.

Usually we postbash after pruning, when there’s room to swing a cat. But the last couple of years we’ve been caught out by a dry spring after deliberately-late Madeleine pruning and haven’t been able to get all their posts in before the ground got hard. So this year we’ve started before pruning. Kelli and Matthew came down last Sunday in the sun to help. The soil is saturated and soft, so the replacement posts went in well for them. An awesome twelve! You can see Milo-the-collie was impressed too. I was pre-pruning ahead of them with the battery secateurs to free up the wires so they wouldn’t be too much in the way, but trickier with the vines unpruned.

Christmas orders keeping us busy labelling and delivering - Christmas Case>> is this year’s hit.

Happy holidays everyone. And here’s to a great 2012 vintage...

DOES Interventionist Winemaking Detract from Terroir?

Thu, 8 Dec 2011 16:22:54 +0000

That was the question at the book launch last week of “Authentic Wine” by scientist-wine-blogger Jamie Goode and winemaker Sam Harrop. Iain and I’d been impressed by an early copy of their book and pitched up. Lovely evening with a selection of natural wines and some great food at Artisan & Vine - in Battersea’s St John’s Hill, where young Australian Kathryn O’Mara presides over what is becoming a showcase of natural and English wines.

Doug Wregg, an importer towards the evangelical end of the natural wine spectrum, made a point in introducing individualistic small-vineyard wines that winegrowers learn from year to year and the variety and development in their wines is one of the delights of wine drinking. Agreed with that, though at our table we shared some scepticism about the farmyard nose of a couple of very natural wines. I could see the appeal of the bright palates to be discovered underneath though. Here’s a report of the occasion from DrinksBusiness: http://bit.ly/tBN3kX.

At Oatley we don’t go the whole natural hog - we aren’t organic or biodynamic largely because we don’t want to spray copper on our vines to keep downy mildew at bay - copper, rather bizarrely in view of its toxicity, is the only chemical defence approved by the Soil Association. We do use some sulphur in the winemaking to keep the wines clean and fresh and and our wines are filtered to make sure they are bright. No wacky stuff here, but we aim for good-quality in our single vineyard grapes with as little chemical interference and as much good husbandry, natural fertilisation and biodiversity in the vineyard as we can. And minimum intervention in the winemaking, so the wine reflects the terroir and the year. Which really is the message of “Authentic Wine”.

Some of the wine journos, MWs and bloggers we met were headed later in the week for the “Great grape debate” at WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust)’s Bermonsey St HQ. Biodynamic apostle Monty Waldin v viticulture scientist Richard Smart on whether the wine trade should promote the merits of biodynamic and organic wines. There’s a video of that one at http://bit.ly/vQ7ce3. Airs some of the issues but never caught fire as a debate, because the protagonists were not really arguing on the same ground. Waldin’s thesis was essentially that biodynamic wines taste better, Smart’s that biodynamic/organic viticultural practices aren’t necessarily more environmentally-friendly or better for vine health. Still, interesting to see wine-trade fashions and concerns changing.

Back home seasonal sales are keeping us busy. We selected our “Christmas Case>>”, a mix of Oatley wines for the festive season, put it on our “Buy” web-page and were delighted to get our first order within hours. Our first Christmas event last Monday was just down the road, “Blackmore By Candlelight” . A seasonal night it was too - torrential sleety showers and an icy NW blast - really the first taste of winter. Strong young men were on hand to give cars a helping push out of the parking field by mid-evening. But the marquee we were in was warm(ish) and the occasion festive - a friendly, seasonal local event. Well done Blackmore Farm. Just getting ready for another evening event in nearby county town, Taunton.

Still no frost and the vines aren’t fully dormant yet. Leaves still clinging to the tops. Been mulching with horse muck and shovel while we wait for pruning to start . There’s a possible frost forecast for Saturday morning that might make the difference.....

To Wine Pantry

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last Thursday got to visit Wine Pantry, the only shop dedicated to English wine, with a great position in a tiny corner of Stoney St, Borough Market. They’ve been stocking our Leonora’s 2009 but we’d not been there. I was in London for the UK Vineyard Association’s Sustainability Group - a meeting at London’s Tower Hill on Wednesday evening.

Stayed overnight at the conveniently-located, august, appropriate for a vigneronne, Vintners’ Hall just by Southwark Bridge. Walked to the meeting along the scenic north bank Thames walkway admiring the increasingly impressive height of The Shard, billed as the tallest building in Western Europe, disappearing up into cloud. And the handsome river frontages of Fishmongers’ Hall, Billingsgate market and famous floodlit landmarks of Tower Bridge and the Tower (right).

The Vintners Company, one of the original 12 livery companies of London, was founded in 1363, but its modest original building by Southwark Bridge was burned down in the Great Fire in 1666. Its present, grand home was opened on the same site in 1671. The Company remains active in the wine world, creating the Masters of Wine exam in 1953, setting up the UK Wine Standards Board before it was absorbed into officialdom and part-funding the new wine centre at Plumpton College. A privilege to be able to stay there, in one of their few bedrooms up under the eaves, to the sound of bells.

A short step in the morning to Borough Market, back east along the river bank and across London Bridge, my first trip when it was actually open. I’ve been a bit slow about Borough Market. Loved it! Happy morning browsing among fantastic produce, breakfast of Colchester oysters and proper Italian espresso, stocking my bag with lovely food that has kept us eating like kings all week. And at lunchtime found Wine Pantry, where Dominique (below right with me and the Oatley 2010s) and Flora were wheeling in and stacking their trolley of stock after three days at The Wine Show at Olympia.

Their tasting room is tiny, a triangular alcove opening right on to the street, with an amazing array of English wines. You can perch at a barrel outside, sample from the refrigerated dispensing machine and buy by the glass or bottle. For the winter, their hours match the market hours. Thurs to Sat. Wish them well.

Back home I finished my roof battens (see previous post) Sunday and got the tiles back on before the rain. Now for a gentle winter, I thought, making good the edges. Need to use lime mortar. It’s a 17th century sandstone stable so modern portland cement mortar isn’t right: too hard for the stones and tiles. Not used lime before - whole new thing to learn and find out where to buy. Hmmm. Not seen it at B&Q, so today visited Limebase in the heart of the Somerset wetlands at Isle Brewers. Only to learn that ideally you need to use lime mortar in the spring, when frost danger’s over and temperatures are stable. So just a couple of bags of readymix to practice with for now, I hope enough to keep the winter rain and spring jackdaws out.

In the vineyard the vines still have most of their leaves in this mildest of autumns , the Kernling (below - taken yesterday) more yellow than green now and the lower half of the Madeleine canes bare .