Jonathan’s Vineyard Blog - September 2024

September 9, 2024

Weather folklore for September states that “grey mists at dawn, the day will be warm”. Unfortunately this year a piece of seaweed would be more useful for meteorological predictions in our vineyard!


This year the weather has been abysmal for growing grapes in England: a cold, late Spring, followed by a predominantly wet Summer with very few warm spells. We live in hope for an ‘Indian Summer’ between now and late October but I am not holding my breath. The years in which we have abundant harvests - such as 2023 - help us to navigate the challenges of a year like the current one.


Thankfully we have plentiful supplies of wines from previous vintages - some of you will have had the chance by now to sample them on the two days we opened during August and September. Our harvest this year will ( assuming the grapes are left alone by badgers, pheasants, and other winged foragers ) be low yielding. Although there is reason to believe that the balance of sugar and acidity will produce outstanding sparkling wine albeit a very limited edition! Time will tell.


Our shop will be open on Saturday 14th September for tastings / purchases of our recent releases, we would be grateful if interest in attending could be done via the link below:


https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1011346553767?aff=oddtdtcreator

Jonathan’s Vineyard Blog - September 2025

By GODSTONE • September 4, 2025
The four months of the year which end in ‘ber’ are now upon us which means that Michaelmas Day (September 29th) is only three weeks away. Folklore claimed that if a north wind blew on Michaelmas Day the month of October would be sunny and fine although make the most of it because fine weather on Saint Denis’s Day (October 9th) indicates a hard winter ahead! The sayings below are my personal favourites : “Dew in the night, next day will be bright” “Grey mists at dawn, the day will be warm” “Rain before seven, fine before eleven” “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning” In an age where for most of us the first port of call for a weather forecast is an app on our mobiles, these sayings often stand the test of time! At the time of writing we do not have a definite harvest date and we continue to monitor levels of sugar and acidity every other day in the hope of arriving at the perfect day for picking! Last year the starlings treated our grapes as an open buffet so we are praying that we can avoid a repeat. We are now open every Saturday between midday and 4pm and, as always, would love to see you. Kind Regards Jonathan

Jonathan’s Vineyard Blog - August 2025

By GODSTONE • August 4, 2025
The weather has turned unsettled since I wrote to you in July and, after four very dry months, we have returned to a more typical mixture of sunshine and showers. At this stage in their development our grapes would prefer settled weather and certainly more sunshine than rainfall. Fingers crossed we are on course for a decent harvest however there are still a few months to go until picking ! We will soon commence Brix testing of the grapes in order to attempt a prediction of the likely harvest date - at present I would say that mid October is looking realistic for our Seyval Blanc. If you wish to know everything there is to know about Brix testing then click on this link ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix I have some good news about our opening days for the vineyard - we intend to open most Saturdays from September onwards; I will confirm this once everything is set in stone. It’s been a long time coming and we are keen to find a “new normal” for Godstone Vineyards. In the meantime we are open over the August Bank Holiday (except Monday) and if you would like to join us please register your interest - free of charge - via the links below: Saturday 23rd August https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1250420835379?aff=oddtdtcreator Sunday 24th August https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1521889585719?aff=oddtdtcreator Kind Regards Jonathan