harvest started

Ripe Siegerrebe grapes

After a near-perfect summer, we started grape picking on Friday 19th September. The early spring and hot July have ripened the grapes about a week earlier than usual and produced some high sugar levels. Some heavy rainfall in August thankfully cooled things down, otherwise we might have been picking even earlier!

The 2.5 tonnes of Siegerrebe was picked and loaded into the press on Friday. We have left it to soak overnight before pressing in order to extract the maximum amount of flavour from the grape skins.

Siegerrebe is one of the earliest ripening grape varieties grown in England and has a bronze colour and wonderful pungent aroma of lychees and peach. This variety normally makes up about 20% of the Horsmonden dry white wine. Despite the coloured grapes the juice is white, so no colour shows up after pressing.

The juice will be left in tank to ferment with the yeasts that are naturally on the grape skins. Apart from keeping a close eye on it, this tank can now be left to get on with fermentation, a process that takes from 3 weeks to 6 months depending on the vigour of the yeast.

Next week we will be picking Ortega and possibly some early Pinot Noir.