All looking good as we get into Spring

Young flower buds on the Pinot Noir

 It seems very busy in the vineyard at the moment. Pruning finished on time, buds burst slightly early and, while bottling last years wine got underway we had to cope with the threat of frost. For the first time ever we actually lit frost burners in the vineyard overnight and probably just as well because the vines were saved from the freezing temperatures. The photo above shows two large flower buds on a young shoot and this is seen all over the vineyard, predicting a good yield for 2014 if all goes well. I am always aware that the weather can find a multitude of ways to reduce the crop over the summer, primarily by persistently raining during the crucial flowering period (end of June) as happened in 2012. So far so good for 2014.

 

After a year of "out of stock" being written all over our web site, it is a massive pleasure to be able to put our 2013 still wines out for sale. The Horsmonden dry white is tasting fantastic, really fresh and zesty with citrus flavours and great length. I am sure it will mellow over the next 6 to 12 months as it matures and I really look forward to seeing it develop.

New to this year is our 2013 Pinot Noir Rosé, made from a 2 acre plot of organic Pinot Noir vines at Horsmonden, this shows true Pinot varietal character while being fresh and with a dry balance - just perfect for the summer.

These are both available on our web site along with the 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine and the last few cases of the 2011 blanc de blancs. Please remember that orders of 12 bottles or more get a free delivery, including mixed cases.

As if we aren't busy enough, we also found time to show our wines at the Real Wine Fair, meeting customers and wine enthusiasts as well as chatting with like-minded winemakers from all over the World. Many thanks to the guys from Les Caves de Pyrenne for inviting us. I can recommend it to anyone interested in organic, biodynamic and naturally made wines. Fascinating and fun.

Our 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine has been chosen by Claridges for their new restaurant "Fera" run by Simon Rogan. I was especially pleased to see the wine list includes so many wines that I admire, putting us in the company of the best. As we go through the year I hope we will be able to see our wines in several more new shops and restaurants - I'll let you know.

Also, look out for the Telegraph on Saturday 24th May because Hamish Anderson is promising to include the 2013 Horsmonden dry white in his article.

Spring update

The grapes picked last October were considered good, even if we had to pick late to get every bit of ripeness. However we have stuck to our natural approach to winemaking and the end results are more impressive than I had hoped for. The Horsmonden dry white has real complexity, with layers of flavours of apple and limes with our trademark mineral yeasty background. We bottled the first run of this wine last week (see photo with the new labels) and it will be back in stock on the web site very soon (at last!)

 

In the vineyard the winter has been frustrating. The freezing temperatures we are used to were replaced by a years rainfall over three months. However pruning is complete and we are just tying the canes onto the wires in time for bud-burst. The vineyards are looking very tidy - well set up for the coming summer.

 

COME AND TASTE THE NEW WINES IN LONDON

We will be showing our 2013 dry white and the 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine at the Real Wine Fair next weekend in London. Not only is this a chance to try our wines, but there will be an array of fantastic organic, biodynamic and natural wines from producers around the world. The date is Sunday 13th April for the public and Monday 14th for the wine trade. For ticket information go to http://therealwinefair.com/

harvest 2013 - the details

picking the Bacchus

Now all the grapes are in the winery, pressed and mostly fermented it is time to reflect on the last season.

2013 has been a year of its own difficulties, a cold late spring delayed bud-burst, followed by a hot dry mid summer and the wettest and least sunny autumn we have recorded over the last 4 years. 

The good stuff: the grapes kept disease-free and amazingly the birds showed no interest in eating them, allowing us the luxury of leaving the fruit longer on the vines without risk of harm. This was just as well because they ripened very late and slowly in the damp and cloudy October. Picking started a week later than normal and finished on the 6th November - at least a week later than we have been used to. Many, many thanks to all those who came out to help picking; it doesn't really need saying that we couldn't do it without your help!

Ortega grapes ready to go to the winery

Sugar levels are a little lower than we achieve in the hotter years and acids maybe a little higher, however the wines taste balanced and full flavoured. In the end as the wines come through fermentation, we are seeing some beautiful delicate aromas and full length of interesting fruit characters. Overall the 2013 wines are showing a lot of promise at this stage.

The storm at the end of October did cause a few problems in that our electricity was disrupted for 2 days and we had to press grapes and work through the night by torch and candle light. Luckily we have a generator that can power the winery machinery (but not the lighting) so we could continue picking through the power cut. Even after 20 years of making wine, this was the first time I have had to work in the dark.

winery at night by torchlight ....

.... and by candle-light

The yield from the vineyard didn't quite match 2006 or 2010, but was very close to our best years and due to the 2007 planted vines coming into full production, the volume of wine from this year is a significant improvement on previous years.

As usual we have made the dry white wines without any winery additives - no yeast, sulphur dioxide, enzymes or fining agents. The press that we installed 3 years ago has allowed us to press the grapes very slowly and gently to maximise flavours.

I expect to produce a Horsmonden dry white wine, two different sparkling wine blends (a Blanc de blancs and our Limney Estate blend) and for the first time in many years we are making a small amount of Rose wine from our Pinot Noir grapes at Diamond Field.

Harvest started at last!

Today in the sunshine we had our first day picking as promised. A lovely warm day and lots of organic grapes. The Siegerrebe makes up a crucial part of our Horsmonden dry white wine blend as it has a soft acidity and a delicious aromatic style. It will make up about 15% of the blend.

This years crop of Siegerrebe has been wonderful - no mildew, very little bird damage and a good yield at around 2kgs per vine. The grapes are taken straight to the winery at Rotherfield where the press is loaded and started immediately. The photo above shows the juice running from the press. This juice will be settled overnight and then we hope fermentation will start spontaneously without the need for adding yeast.

Thanks to all who helped with picking today - fantastic job. I hope you will want to return for the next day picking (we will probably have 2 or 3 days picking next week).

Grape picking starts next week!

Siegerrebe grapes ready to pick

Pinot Noir - a week to go at least

After one of the sunniest summers this year we find that the grapes are slightly late in their ripening this year. We have been extremely patient watching the grapes in a week when we would normally be madly picking. Our first variety to pick is Siegerrebe which we normally harvest around the 20th September. This year it is still unpicked with a harvest planned for Monday the 7th October - the latest ever for this variety. The reason for this is the cold wet weather in the Spring that we've probably forgotten about by now. Bud burst was a fortnight behind normal and flowering was also late. Often the vines catch up from a slow start, but this year they haven't managed it. :Luckily the weather is looking OK into mid October so we can afford to wait.

The great news is that we have a good crop of healthy grapes - one of the biggest crops I have seen on our vines. This is true across almost all varieties, the exception being the Pinot Noir at our Rotherfield site where we have been fighting a war against Downy mildew all summer. The winner of this war is yet to be decided, but we have used copper fungicide (allowed under Soil Association rules) and many hours of thinning out the vines.

Picking is done by hand with fine secateurs, and we are always interested to hear from anyone interested in doing a day picking. We try to chose sunny days so the grapes arrive at the winery dry. We will have about 7 days picking spread through October. Please get in touch if you're interested.