Jonathan’s Vineyard Blog - November
In this month’s blog it gives me great pleasure to report on our recent grape harvest, which took place under cloudless blue skies on Sunday 17th October.
We are extremely grateful to the twenty five friends and family who so willingly helped us to bring in the harvest; we picked from early morning until mid afternoon and then sat down together to enjoy a convivial lunch comprising our own homemade quiches, farm raised turkey, and all accompanied by our still and sparkling wines. It was a truly wonderful climax to a year which, due to weather and Covid, has been a very challenging one for ours and many businesses up and down the land.
We were very pleasantly surprised by the yield of grapes, which has resulted in a record for Godstone Vineyards. At some points during the growing season I had been genuinely concerned that we might not harvest anything at all - the Spring was cold and late, the Summer predominantly wet. The sugar level of our grapes was slightly lower than average, however this means that we will hopefully end up with a crisp, dry sparkling wine when it is released in 2023.
Looking to Winter.
Another year in the wine cycle draws to a close and yet we are already embarking upon the next one: post and wirework need to be repaired / replaced ; hedges and windbreaks need to be maintained ; winter pruning will commence in December. It quite literally never stops!
Our shop remains open every weekend throughout the Winter and we are always delighted to welcome you.
