Jonathan’s Vineyard Blog

1st August 2023

July has been an extremely busy month in the vineyard majoring upon the trimming and leaf stripping, especially in our Bacchus vines.

The trimming is done by a local contractor who uses a tractor-mounted machine which trims the sides and tops of the vine rows; reducing the vegetation above the top wire is particularly important otherwise the vines from one row would overshadow the next row and prevent sunlight penetrating the fruiting area.

Leaf stripping has been done by hand (thank you to those of you who have so kindly volunteered your help) and seems counterintuitive ! After all, why would you want to remove the ‘factory’ of the vine ? In the case of a vine the leaf takes one month before it provides help to the fruit (meanwhile using the plant’s energy) after which it only produces energy for three months and, therefore, by the end of July all that a leaf is doing is creating shade and humidity on the fruit.

Leaf removal promotes aeration on the fruit and increases exposure to the sun, which in turn aids ripening. In July we leaf stripped the east side of our rows in the hope that any morning sun will dry the overnight dew off the fruit; in mid August we will leaf strip the west side. The image at the top of the article shows a row of Bacchus after leaf stripping and trimming - note the promising bunches !

I hope that you are enjoying the Summer - it’s been a mixed bag in terms of the weather and we could do with a month of decent sunshine to help the grapes.

We have recently introduced a Charcuterie Platter to our menu which features gorgeous cold cuts from Owley Farm in Tenterden, Kent. Why not pop along and try it with a glass of our award winning wine, we are always delighted to see you.

Kind Regards  ,  Jonathan & Family